2008 - TeacherLINK - Utah State University

http://www.ucet.org
Member Newsletter for January 2008
UCET 2008 Almost Here! Register Now!
Preparations for the UCET 2008 Conference are in high
gear. Vendors are lined up and excited to show their
wares. Nearly 130 presenters are preparing to share
information with you that will re-energize you as you
return to the classroom. Mr. David Pogue (photo at left)
is looking forward to delivering an engaging keynote
presentation entitled, “Web 2.0, Social Media, and Other
Buzzwords.” We have some great Over-the-Shoulder
sessions in the works. A great conference is brewing!
We hope to see you there! Remember to preregister online before February 15 and save on the registration fee.
Link: http://www.ucet.org/inUCETnew/conference/
Theme: UCET 2.0 – Explore and Create Possibilities
Date: February 29 and March 1, 2008
Place: Taylorsville High School, Granite School District
5225 South Redwood Road
Salt Lake City, UT 84123
We have several presentations that focus on GIS. There
are over forty presentations with an innovative technology
theme. There are nearly thirty presentations that deal with
multimedia such as web design, podcasting, photography,
audio, and video. Twenty five presentations demonstrate
wonderful online resources. Quite a few presentations
focus on technical issues relating to networking, security,
servers, wireless, imaging, etc.
The keynote and presentations are great, but UCET is
also marvelous place for you to do some networking with
your peers. It’s a chance to sit down with others from
all over the state with similar interests. Trade notes with
them. Learn what they do in their classrooms. You’ll find
that spending some time chatting with other UCET attendees will produce great ideas and rewards.
The UCET conference has
grown significantly over the
past ten years. It has become the premiere technology forum for Utah educators
and administrators. Last
year, nearly a thousand attended. We expect even a
larger group this year.
Join us at UCET 2008, and
explore and create possibilities of your own! We’ll see
you there!
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View File Name Extensions in Windows/Mac
How does your operating system know which program to use
to open a file? It looks at the filename extension. Nearly
every file ends with a three letter extension such as the following.
•
MyFamily.jpg (.jpg is the filename extension. .jpg
means that it is a jpeg image or photo.)
•
classgrades.xls (.xls is the filename extension. .xls
means that this file is an Excel spreadsheet.)
Whenever you install a program on your PC, part of the
installation process instructs your operating system to associate a certain filename extension with the program you
are installing. That way, when you double click on a file, the
operating system knows to use that program to open the file.
Have you ever double-clicked a file and the operating system
told you...
That’s because your operating system has never been told
what program to associate that filename extension to. So
now, you can either use the internet to learn what program is
supposed to be used to open that file, or if you know already,
you can choose which program from those that are installed
on your computer.
My experience has been that using the first option doesn’t
help much. I often have better luck going to a search engine
such as Google, and typing the extension there (be sure to
include the period in front). I can usually find what program
is supposed to be used to open that kind of a file in the first
couple search results.
If you choose the second option, “Select the program from
a list,” you’ll see a dialog box similar to that at the top of the
next column. Here you can choose a program to open the
file with. If you don’t see the application in the list, you’ll need
to click on the Browse... button and navigate to the application you wish to use. You also have the choice to use the
application you choose only this time, or always (if you check
the “Always use the selected program to open this kind of
file”).
Another way to get to the “Open With” dialog box is by rightclicking on a file and choosing “Properties.” There, you’ll see
the application associated with the filename extension, and a
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button that allows you to change it to the application you wish
to use.
Knowing this comes in handy when you install that new application on your computer, which will often re-associate certain
filename extensions with it. Multimedia applications like
iTunes, RealPlayer, and the Windows Media Player do this
when you install them. Some are polite enough to ask first,
others just re-associate files automatically. All of the sudden
things don’t open in the program you’re used to using - quite
frustrating. All you need do is to go to the “Open With” dialog
and associate it again with your favorite program.
lem. Once you added the correct extension, then doubleclicking the file would open it in the proper program. With
filename extensions hidden, though, you’d never know the
file had no extension.
The newer Mac operating systems depend as much on the
filename extensions as Windows. But like Windows, the
Leopard operating system allows a filename extension to be
hidden. To get where you need to see the extension, you
click on the filename, then in the Finder go to the FILE menu
and choose get info (or use the shortcut key - command-i)...
One of the gripes I have, since file extensions are so important to how a computer works, is that by default, the operating system tries to hide them. Any computer I work with I
change to make it show me the filename extensions. Let me
show you how to do that. In the Start Menu, go to your control panels. Choose the one called “Folder Options” (you’ll
find it in the Appearance and Themes category). Once there,
choose the view tab. Then uncheck “Hide extensions for
known file types.” Click “Apply” and then “OK.” Now, you’ll
always be able to see your filename extensions.
In the dialog box, uncheck the “hide extension” option.
This is also the Macintosh dialog box that allows you to
change the application that opens the file, similar to the
“Open With” dialog in Windows. To always use the application to open this kind of file, click the “Change All...” button.
You’ll find being able to see your extensions is very helpful
sometimes. Every once in awhile, a Macintosh user may
send you a file that has no extension. Users of earlier Mac
systems never used or worried about filename extensions.
Macs had a different way of telling the operating system what
program to use to open a file. So you might get a Microsoft
Word document from a Mac user, but your computer wouldn’t
know how to open the file because it didn’t have a filename
extension. Just adding .doc to the filename fixed the probUCET - Page 3
In my role as “tech help” here in the College of Education, I
often get calls from people asking how they can open a file
they’ve received by e-mail, or downloaded on the internet.
Hopefully, this short tutorial will help you as you run into
similar problems. Be careful about e-mail attachments and
downloads, however - as many of the virus, worm, root-kits,
and other bad payloads are delivered this way. Don’t try to
open attachments you weren’t expecting. Keep your operating system up-to-date through Windows update. Security
patches usually come on Tuesdays. Keep your virus definitions up-to-date as well.
Teacher-tested Travel Grants
Edutopia Magazine has a great article about this at...
Link: http://www.edutopia.org/travel-grants
Fund for Teachers:
Have Your Students Grow Seeds Exposed to a
Microgravity Environment!
Plant growth will be an important part of space exploration
in the future as NASA plans for long-duration missions to
the moon. NASA scientists anticipate that astronauts may
be able to grow plants on the moon, and the plants could be
used to supplement meals.
In anticipation of the need for research into lunar plant
growth, NASA and the International Technology Education
Association, or ITEA, present the NASA Engineering Design
Challenge: Lunar Plant Growth Chamber for the 2007-2008
school year. Elementary, middle and high school students
design, build and evaluate lunar plant growth chambers -while engaging in research- and standards-based learning
experiences. Students participate in the engineering design
process and learn how to conduct a scientific experiment.
Link: http://www.fundforteachers.org/
Fund for Teachers enriches the personal and professional
growth of teachers by recognizing and supporting them as
they identify and pursue opportunities around the globe that
will have the greatest impact on their practice, the academic
lives of their students and on their school communities.
Earthwatch Institute’s Education Fellowships
Link: http://www.earthwatch.org/site/
pp.asp?c=dsJSK6PFJnH&b=393763
Leave the four walls of your classroom behind; embark on
a unique journey sure to transform your life and energize
the classroom. As a fellow you will work side by side with a
scientist conducting field research. You will contribute to our
understanding of the environment, have a direct impact on
urgent issues, and will ultimately inspire your students and
community.
Choose from three ways to participate in the challenge:
Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program
1. Design, Build and Evaluate a Chamber
2. Design and Evaluate a Chamber
3. Evaluate a Chamber
Link: http://www.iie.org/Website/WPreview.cfm?WID=194
Educators who complete the challenge with their students
can request cinnamon basil seeds that have flown in space
on the STS-118 space shuttle mission. Students can compare plants grown from both space-flown and Earth-based
control seeds, and test the designs of the lunar plant growth
chambers. The seeds will be available to the first 100,000
registrants who must be residents of the United States, U.S.
Territories and Outlying Areas.
The cinnamon basil seeds that were recently flown on board
shuttle mission STS-118 are now in the process of being
packaged at Park Seed Company in Greenwood, S.C. After
they are packaged, the seeds will be sent to a mailing organization for delivery to registered educators. We anticipate the
delivery phase taking place very soon.
Registration is still open for NASA’s Engineering Design
Challenge: Lunar Plant Growth Chamber. For additional information and to sign up to receive the space-flown basil seeds,
please visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/education/plantchallenge
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The Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund (JFMF) Teacher Program, sponsored by the Government of Japan, provides
American primary and secondary school teachers and
administrators with fully-funded short-term study tours of
Japan. The program is designed to increase understanding
between the people of Japan and the United States by inviting U.S. elementary and secondary educators to visit Japan
and share their experiences with fellow Americans upon their
return. JFMF participants travel to Japan with other outstanding educators, learn about Japanese culture and education,
and return to implement a self-designed plan to share their
knowledge and experience with their students, colleagues
and community.
Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad
Link: http://www.ed.gov/programs/iegpssap/index.html
The program provides short-term study and travel seminars
abroad for U.S. educators in the social sciences and humanities for the purpose of improving their understanding and
knowledge of the peoples and cultures of other countries.
Support is generally made available through interagency
agreements.
Panasonic & Google Collaborate to Launch Internet TVs
Panasonic has been working with Google to launch TVs this spring that will allow users to directly browse and access videos on
YouTube. They will also have the capability to view Picasa photo albums.
Sony and Sharp also made similar announcements about having products that connect to the internet for content, allowing users to download news, photos, and video directly to their TV sets.
Watch for their release this year.
Read more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22551448/
http://www.forbes.com/home/markets/2008/01/08/matsushita-google-youtube-markets-cx_vk_0108markets01.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/technology/10electronics.html?em&ex=1200114000&en=c49e86cb6c5ddb49&ei=5087%0A
Intel Schools of Distinction Award
Does your school demonstrate excellence in math and science?
The yearly Intel Schools of Distinction Awards recognize U.S.
schools that implement innovative, replicable programs that
inspire their students and lead to positive educational outcomes in the areas of math and science.
Who Wins?
Two categories: Math and Science
18 Finalists: 3 each in grade group: K-5, 6-8, and 9-12
6 Winners
1 Star Innovator for 2008 (selected from the 6 winners)
Awards:
Winners receive $10,000 each from the Intel Foundation
and more than $100,000 in products and services from the
program award sponsors.
The Star Innovator for 2008 receives an additional $15,000
cash grant from the Intel Foundation as well as additional
services and products from the award sponsors.
Intel believes all students, everywhere, deserve to have the
tools they need to become the next generation of innovators and that good schools and good teachers are the foundation
of student excellence.
Intel Schools of Distinction exemplify this excellence.
In order to be considered as an Intel School of Distinction,
schools must develop an environment and curricula that meet
or exceed benchmarks, including national mathematics and
science content standards.
Winning programs serve as models for schools across the
country. By replicating proven programs such as these,
schools everywhere can reinvigorate their own science and
mathematics programs, inspiring generations of future scientists and mathematicians.
Enter the 2008 Intel Schools of Distinction Awards and your
school could win $10,000 and more than $100,000 in products and services. Apply by February 14, 2008
Link: http://www.intel.com/education/schoolsofdistinction/index.htm
UCET - Page 5
Digital Photography and Digital Photos
The world has turned digital, hasn’t it? One of the most exciting advances has been in the realm of digital photography.
Digital cameras use a light sensing device to record images,
similar to those developed for exploring space. These CMOS
sensors in the newest cameras rival what can be produced
on traditional films. The newest digital single lens reflex
cameras (DSLR) are as good (or better) than their film counterparts.
Another realm that has enhanced digital photography is that
of flash storage devices. As flash technology matured, new
flash storage cards can hold gigabytes worth of information.
Sixteen gigabyte flash cards are now on the market at reasonable prices. Thirty-two gigabyte and sixty-four gigabyte
cards are just around the corner. A new technology using
nanotubes being developed at Arizona State University promises storage devices in the terabyte range, packaged into the
same space our flash-based devices are today.
Most point and shoot digital cameras save their images in
the popular JPEG format. JPEG is a ‘lossy’ compression
algorithm that sacrifices some of the image quality to create small files. For example, my Kodak EasyShare C613 is
a 6.2 megapixel camera. I added a two gigabyte SD card
to the camera so I could take more pictures. At its highest
resolution it takes 2848x2134 pixel images, which print 8x10
images that are indistinguishable from a traditional film 8x10.
Saved as jpeg files, my camera will take 1696 pictures at this
resolution on a 2 GB card. If I want to reduce the resolution
to a lower setting, good enough for printing 3x5 prints, but
nothing larger than that, I can take 4000 pictures. The advantage of JPEG format is that almost any program can open
or use these kinds of files.
Many of your higher end digital cameras save images in a
format called camera raw. Camera raw files are about four
times larger than JPEG images, but they are saved at the
best quality your camera can deliver. For example, a JPEG
image gives you 256 brightness levels. A camera raw image gives you 4096 levels of brightness, storing much more
detail. You’ll need a program such as Photoshop to load and
manipulate camera raw images. If you’re into photography
professionally, camera raw is the best way to go.
Most consumer digital cameras on the market now range between five and twelve megapixels in resolution. Megapixels
is an approximation of how many million pixels a camera’s
sensor will deliver. If you’re doing work to put online, or to
show on computer, almost any digital camera will suffice.
Most computer screens currently display somewhere between 1024x768 pixels to 1920x1200 pixels. A one megapixel camera will take photos at a resolution of 1152x864 pixels,
which is right in that range.
If you’re planning to print your photos, however, this is where
the megapixel count really matters. Ben Wilmore, in his
book, Photoshop CS3 Studio Techniques, shared a table that
gives a good idea what each megapixel level can do. The
first column is the camera’s megapixel rating (MP). The next
column (IS) shows the typical image size (in pixels) that you
get when you take photos at the highest resolution. Next,
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(INK) shows the size of images you can print on an ink jet
photo printer at 200 dots-per-inch printing resolution, or at
higher quality 300 dpi (HQ) settings.
MP
TP (pixels)
INK (inches)
HQ (inches)
1
1152 x 864
4.6 x 3.5
3.8 x 2.9
2
1600 x 1200
6.4 x 4.8
5.3 x 4.0
3
2048 x 1536
8.2 x 6.1
6.8 x 5.1
4
2304 x 1728
9.2 x 6.9
7.7 x 5.8
5
2592 x 1944
10.4 x 7.8
8.6 x 6.5
6
2816 x 2112
11.3 x 8.4
9.4 x 7.0
7
3072 x 2304
12.3 x 9.2
10.2 x 7.7
8
3456 x 2304
13.8 x 9.2
11.5 x 7.7
12
4256 x 2847
16.0 x 11.4
14.2 x 9.5
16
4992 x 3328
19.7 x 13.3
16.4 x 11.1
Because manufacturers specifications differ, your camera’s
image pixel numbers may not exactly match the ones above,
but the table will give you a good idea of the size you can get
and still have a high quality picture.
Most digital cameras have an ISO setting. This setting
controls the camera’s sensitivity to light. Most of the time
you can just leave it on AUTO and let the camera decide the
best setting. But you can control it manually, too. The rule of
thumb is to choose a lower ISO setting for brightly lit scenes,
and a higher ISO setting for low light scenes. Most point and
shoot cameras have ISO settings of 80, 100, 400, and 800.
High end cameras have ISO settings up in the thousands,
and do very well in low light settings.
Many cameras allow you to easily manually adjust for different lighting situations by using exposure compensation.
Typically you can use the left and right arrow buttons to allow
more or less light into the camera, and you can see the result
on your LCD display even before you take the photo. Often,
photographers will take several shots of the same scene
at different exposure compensation levels. This is called
“bracketing” the shot. The three photos below were taken at
-1, 0, +1 exposure compensations, respectively. Bracketing
increases your odds of getting that “perfect” photo.
As you take photos in low light settings, the hardest thing to
do is hold the camera still enough, so you don’t take a blurry
photo. Using a camera tripod really helps in low light situations. If you don’t have a tripod, many of today’s digital
cameras have a feature called “image stabilization” which
helps freeze a picture so it’s not blurry, and can compensate
for some shakiness of hand. Set your camera to image
stabilization mode. Even pressing the shutter can introduce
enough movement to blur a picture. One trick is to use the
camera’s self timer mode. You can set your camera to take a
picture 5 or 10 seconds after you press the shutter, and eliminate the shake. Just hold as still as you possibly can for the
few seconds before the shutter automatically fires. Another
good trick is to use something, a chair, a wall, etc., to help
steady you as you hold the camera.
Let me share a couple thoughts on composing a picture.
One basic composition rule is the rule of thirds. Imagine a
grid of three vertical and horizontal lines dividing your viewer
into nine equally spaced sections. Where these grid lines
cross each other make pleasing locations for your subject.
Rather than place your subject dead center in the screen,
offset it about one third of the way in any direction.
In the photo above, I have the berries balanced around the
right third vertical rather than having them centered on the
screen. Compositionally this makes a more interesting image
than the one below...
Another helpful hint is to fill the frame. Let your subject fill or
exceed the edge of your image. This often creates a more
interesting shot. When you look at images of people, your
eyes are drawn to the face and the hands. Filling the frame
with your subject allows a more intimate view and removes
distracting background.
One marvelous thing about digital photography - there’s no
darkroom, chemicals, fumes, etc. You can do all the ‘darkroom’ work in a photo manipulation program such as Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, or many others. You can bring
out color your eyes saw but the camera wasn’t sensitive
enough to pick up. All the tricks of the dark room, such as
dodging and burning, are available in these programs. And
there’s much more you can do! Go experiment!
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Finding that Hidden Best Image - Using Photoshop’s Crop Tool
line, go to the Image -> Rotate Canvas menu and choose
Arbitrary...
As you take digital photos, are you plagued by that LCD
screen you use as the viewfinder? Sometimes the sun is so
bright you can hardly see the scene the camera is seeing. In
these situations, you hold your camera near eye level and
hope the camera is seeing the same thing you are as you
press the shutter.
Many times, there are great photos hiding within the overall
scene - all you need to do is crop your image down to that
scene. Photoshop (and most other image editing programs)
have a crop tool.
I remember when I was a small child, taking an empty envelope with a window (you know, the ones bills come in with the
window for the address to show through), and looking at the
world through that window. Essentially, that’s what the crop
tool allows you to do - look at a mini-view of your photo’s
world. You can move it around until you find the best possible view, then press RETURN or ENTER to crop your image.
In Photoshop, the crop tool uses this symbol -
Photoshop is going to calculate the exact amount of rotation you need to make the line you just measured perfectly
horizontal...
As we explore the crop tool, let’s also put another tool to
good use, the ruler tool. By default, the ruler tool is hidden in
the eyedropper tool pop-up. You’ll notice the eyedropper tool
has a little triangle in the lower right corner. Click on hold on
the triangle, and a pop-up will appear. Choose the ruler tool
from this pop-up.
Just press the OK button, and Photoshop will rotate your image that angle...
It’s difficult to hold the camera perfectly aligned with the horizon, so your photo will often look tilted. Here’s a photo I took
that has that problem...
Now the horizon is perfectly straight, but the picture is
crooked. Here’s where we put the crop tool to use. Click the
crop tool and drag across your image. When you release the
mouse button, you’ll notice eight adjustment handles appear
around the edge, and one point in the center. Use the edge
handles to eliminate the transparent edges (the checkered
areas), then press the RETURN or ENTER key to crop.
If you look at the horizon line, it definitely looks like the world
is sliding downhill to the left. You can use the ruler and crop
tools to help you fix this problem. First, get the ruler tool and
click on the horizon on the left, then drag a line to the right
that follows the horizon line. Or you can use any landmark
in the image that’s supposed to be a perfect horizontal and
measure across that. Once you’ve measured a horizontal
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In the top illustration, you’ll notice that
Photoshop darkens the image outside the
cropping area. That’s so you can get an
idea what the cropped image will look like
without the outside area interfering visually. In the option bar at the top of the
screen, you can set the color and opacity
that the part outside the window would be.
By default, it’s set to black with an opacity
of 75%. If seeing the image outside the
cropping selection bothers you, set that to
100% opacity.
You can grab and drag the cropping selection anywhere on the image, like looking
through that envelope window I spoke of
earlier.
The center point is a rotation point. If you
move your mouse outside the cropping selection, it turns into a rotate symbol. Then
if you click and drag, the cropping selection rotates
around that center point. You can grab the center
point and move it anywhere on the image, and
your cropping selection will rotate around it. Once
you’ve found the perfect image within the cropping
selection area, press RETURN or ENTER to crop to
that selection.
Look at the second illustration on the page. When
you first grab the crop tool, but before you click and
drag it across your image, the option bar allows
you to specify a certain width, height, and resolution the crop will be constrained to. This is perfect if
you’re trying to print to a 4x6” print, or other specific
size. The crop tool drop-down at the left even has
preset sizes already in place for you. Or you can
type in the size in inches (example: 6 in) or pixels
(example: 1200 px).
If you have more than one image open, and you
want to crop one of them to be the exact size the
other one is, you can bring an image to the front
and click the “Front Image” button in the options
bar. Photoshop will automatically fill the width,
height, and resolution fields with that image’s
dimensions. Then you can move to the other
open images and use the crop tool to constrain to
those exact dimensions.
When you wish to clear those fields so you can
drag a “free form” crop selection, just click the
CLEAR button.
You’ll find the crop tool to be a great friend for
digital photography. It will help you find that “perfect picture” in your photos.
UCET - Page 9
Mac Users - Transfer Music or Video Files from
Your iPod to Your Hard Drive with Free Senuti
Software!
•
If connected, disconnect your iPod
•
Launch iTunes
•
Press and hold the Command and Option keys*
•
Plug in your iPod with the keys still pressed
Have you ever lost a portable
hard drive, or had it crash and
burn on you? What if it had all
your iTunes music and video
purchases on it? You know
you can put music and videos
on your iPod, but have you
ever tried to get a copy from
your iPod? To discourage
illegal copying of copyrighted
material, Apple didn’t give you
that option.
•
When your iPod appears in the source list of iTunes, you
can release the keys
•
Within iTunes click on your iPod
•
Choose the settings tab to alter the settings of your iPod
•
Enable Disk Use
•
Enable Manually manage music and videos**
•
Press Apply
Well, Macintosh users need not fret - a free program is only a
download away that can help you. It’s Senuti...
Link: http://www.fadingred.org/senuti/
If you’ve used iTunes, you can use Senuti, which has a very
similar interface. Just highlight the music or videos that you
wish to transfer to your hard drive, and click the green transfer arrow in the upper left corner of the window. The songs
will be copied to your hard drive, and if you set Senuti up so
that songs are automatically added to iTunes, then they will
be added to iTunes as well.
Preparing your iPod — read carefully!
In order to use Senuti with an iPod, disk use must be enabled, and manual management of songs should also be
enabled. If disk use is not enabled, follow these instructions
to enable it:
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*Holding the Command and Option keys will stop iTunes from
automatically updating
your iPod when you
connect it.
**Enabling the preference to manually
manage your music will
make it so you no longer have to remember
to press and hold the
Command and Option
keys when plugging in
your iPod. It is strongly
recommended that you
enable this feature so
that iTunes never deletes the music on your
iPod without prompting
you.
Dear UCET members,
You do realize that you are members of UCET? I
know that this sounds funny, but when you attended the conference last year, you became a member of UCET. Besides the conference attendance,
you also get an awesome newsletter each month
stuffed with ideas that you can use. Another benefit that members enjoy is the right to vote.
This year, members of UCET will be voting for
three board positions. These board positions are
filled by members that you vote for. Board members attend monthly meetings, attend a summer
planning retreat, write newsletter articles, and
chair different committees within UCET that help
plan and organize our conference. You will also be
voting for this year’s President-Elect. This position
is a three year commitment with the first year as
President-Elect, then President and finally serving
as Past-President. With these positions available,
why don’t you think about running for one of them?
For the past few years, UCET has grown and so
the board has submitted a proposal to the membership of UCET to change the constitution to allow for two more board members. This will take our
elected board positions from six to eight members.
This will be an important decision made by the
members of UCET.
UCET is the state affiliate of ISTE. This means
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that we have access to their services. One of the
services that we will be bringing to you this year is
a bookstore of ISTE books that you will be able to
purchase right at the conference at a discounted
rate. This will be a great opportunity for you to pick
up some great books below their actual cost. To
check out what books are available, go to the ISTE
website at www.iste. org and click on the Bookstore
link.
Now that you know you are all members, why don’t
you come to the website and click to register for
this year’s conference? David Pogue will be our
Keynote speaker. He is looking forward to being
here again. I promise that you will really enjoy this
keynote. We have over 125 sessions that you can
pick from and around 40 vendors that will be onsite
to help with your technology needs.
One more reason that you will want to be in attendance is the opportunity to apply for the UCET
Teacher Grant. We will be getting more information
out to you via the website soon. One thing that I
do know is that you will have to attend both days in
order to get the grant and you can only spend the
money with one of our current vendors. See you at
UCET!
Ross Rogers
UCET President
http://www.ucet.org
UCET 2.0 - This Month! Register Now!
The UCET Conference is almost here! Be sure to register
online before February 15, and save on your registration
fees. We have more vendors than ever, a great line-up of
presentations, good food, more prizes, some new teacher
grants, and more. You’ll not want to miss this year’s conference!
Please watch the UCET website. More information will be
posted regularly.
http://www.ucet.org
This Issue of the UCET Newsletter - Web 2.0
The web is booming with new web 2.0 sites, many which
could be used in educational settings. You’ll find many of
the services are absolutely free - things such as gradebooks,
wikis, blogs, note taking tools, mind maps, and much more!
UCET - Page 1
Member Newsletter for February 2008
Other sites charge a minimal fee for the services they provide.
Most of this month’s issue is a directory of web 2.0 sites that
may have value to you as educators. I have to mention here
that there were so many, we couldn’t cover them in a single
issue - so more will be shared with you next month. UCET
invites you to share some of the web 2.0 sites you’ve found
helpful in your classrooms. Feel free to send the URL and
a brief description of your favorite sites to me, Nathan Smith
([email protected]), UCET’s board member over the
newsletter and website.
Also, in this newsletter, you’ll find information about programs
that will back up your Macintosh (or, if you’re a lab manager
- clone a Mac). You’ll learn about Free-Reading.net, a web
2.0 community of teachers that are collaborating on an online
curriculum project. Then there’s the “Teach the First Amendment” site that encourages teachers to bring Civics back into
the classroom. Some great resources ahead! Enjoy.
Back-Up Your Macintosh!
Clone, synchronize, backup.
Schedule and forget it. Try it ‘til
you trust it.
The key to a successful backup
plan is to actually do the backups
regularly. When left to a human,
the task often gets tacked on to
the end of a very long list of other
things to do. When you eventually have a catastrophe, the data
is simply gone. You know that
feeling -- you just lost six years
of family photos. Your kids being
born, their first birthdays, their first
everything. The answer to this is
consistent and regular backups,
placed on a schedule and handled
automatically by your computer.
CCC 3.0 features a new interface
designed to make the cloning and
backup procedure more intuitive and more responsive. Users
have better control over what gets
backed up, and are provided with
detailed information about the
progress of their backup. In addition to general backup, CCC can
also clone one hard drive to another, copying every single
block or file to create an exact replica of your source hard
drive. CCC’s block-level copy offers the absolute best fidelity
in the industry!
Among the new features are:
•
Support for block-level disk-to-disk clones.
•
Synchronization built-in, not bolted on.
•
Support for backing up across the network to another
Macintosh.
•
Advanced scheduling capabilities -- Backup tasks can
now be scheduled on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly
basis, or you can indicate that a backup task should run
when the backup device is attached (e.g. an iPod).
•
CCC recognizes iPods specifically, allowing time for the
iPod:iTunes synchronization to complete.
•
The ability to drill down into folders to select exactly what
gets copied and what doesn’t (you can drill down indefinitely).
•
Built-in software update feature notifies you when updates are available.
Carbon Copy Cloner is now available as a Universal binary.
As with previous versions, Carbon Copy Cloner is released
as uncrippled shareware — try the full-featured product until
you trust it, then consider a donation to the Bombich Software
Tip Jar.
Link: http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
UCET - Page 2
Another Great Mac Cloner...
Like Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC), SuperDuper! is an
easy-to-use software package that creates a fully bootable backup of your Macintosh, an exact clone. The
software is not Leopard compatible yet, but the author
is currently working on the new version. It should be
out soon.
SuperDuper is a free download that you can use
without restriction, however, if you register the software ($27.95), it will unlock additional features such as
scheduling, Smart Update (which saves a lot of time),
Sandboxes, scripting and more.
SuperDuper is a Universal Application, and works
beautifully on Intel and Power PC based Macs.
Link: http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
Free-Reading.net - an Open Resource and Community
From the site’s About page: “Free-Reading is an ongoing, collaborative, teacher-based, curriculum-sharing project. We’re looking to provide a reliable forum where teachers can openly and freely share their successful and effective methods for teaching
reading in grades K-1 and for at-risk students in later grades.
Our premises are:
•
The research on how students learn to read is well-established.
•
The research on which instructional techniques work is well-understood.
•
The voices of those who know what works best -- the classroom teachers -- are rarely heard in instructional design.
•
The power of “we” is far greater than the power of “you” or “I.”
After all, the research is in.
The goals of Free-Reading are:
1. To help educators worldwide teach kids to read
2. To make quality, research-based, explicit and systematic instruction for early reading widely available and free (in two senses
of the word “free”: “at no charge” and “openly offered so as to be used, reused, mashed-up and shared again”)
3. To nurture a community of educators who share effective methods in a form that others can easily apply in their own teaching
4. To disrupt spending in education away from expensive textbooks and towards more customized instructional materials, more
support and training for teachers, and better tools for data and knowledge management.
5. Ultimately, as Catherine Snow has said, for kids to be able to “read books with enjoyment while lying in a hammock under elm
trees”.
Though no individual skill taught here may be an end in itself, we believe each is a step on the path to that ultimate goal.
Free-Reading is truly free. Anyone is free to:
•
Review it
•
Download it
•
Print it
•
Teach with it
•
Contribute to it
We are glad to have you as part of
our growing community. Feel free to:
•
Read the FAQ if you have questions.
•
Start teaching with Intervention A - our first comprehensive
program.
•
Add an early literacy activity.
•
Download and print free letter
cards, picture cards, a letter
formation guide, irregular word
cards and advanced phonics
word cards.
•
Watch and listen to Free-Reading videos and audios.
•
Rate an existing activity.
•
Write a short story.
•
Start a discussion.
We encourage you to review the
Free-Reading Terms of Use and Privacy Policy before using the site.”
Link: http://www.free-reading.net/
UCET - Page 3
Bring Civics Back to the
Classroom
2008 is an election year. What
better time to learn about our
government, constitution, and
rights as citizens of the United
States of America?
Teach the First Amendment
offers a treasure trove of articles, lesson plans, and other
resources that will get students
excited about their government.
We participate in a democracy,
and our students need to know
how live and participate actively
within it.
Here’s a sampling of some of the
resources you’ll find there...
Freedom in America: An
Electronic Field Trip: Ball State
University’s interactive broadcast features conversations with
experts as well as online and
in-class activities. To access the
site, enter the user name “liberty” and the password “bell.”
Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools: Get resources
to make the case to legislators
and policymakers about the
importance of teaching civics in
schools.
First Amendment Schools Network: Looking for free
resources to help your school teach and practice democratic
principles? Interested in learning about how other schools
encourage students to exercise their freedoms responsibly?
Join the First Amendment Schools Network and help your
school become a laboratory for democratic freedom.
participate. J-Ideas new Silver Telly award-winning DVD, A First
Amendment Guide for Principals and Administrators:
Helps principals and administrators create First Amendment
awareness in their schools and understand the complexity of
media-law.
U.S. Constitution: Learn more about the U.S. Constitution
and your rights as a citizen.
J-Ideas offers a wide selection of free teaching DVDs:
Products are prepared for classroom use covering topics
dealing with the First Amendment, business reporting and
sports journalism. Freedom in America: This Electronic Field Trip, produced
by Ball State University, takes students to Philadelphia,
where they will learn about the Constitution and the First
Amendment. Students will visit the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and other important landmarks.
Newspapers in Education: Newspapers in Education
works with participating newspapers to deliver free newspapers to high schools. Contact your local paper to see if they
UCET - Page 4
North Carolina Civic Education Consortium: This website offers resources to help students become enthusiastic,
involved citizens with the knowledge, skills, and confidence
to participate in democratic life.
McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum: Explore how freedom plays a role in our lives.
Channel One Network: 1 Voice: 1Voice is designed to help
you teach your students about the First Amendment. Channel One and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
have partnered to bring you the resources you need to teach
young people about their Constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms..
Future of the First Amendment: Curious to see how much
the rest of the nation’s high school students know about the
First Amendment? View the “Future of the First Amendment”
study that tested the knowledge of more than 100,000 high
school students, teachers and administrators at 544 high
schools across the United States.
Link: http://www.teachfirstamendment.org/
Web 2.0 - Educational Smorgasboard!
Web 2.0 - you hear this tech catch phrase all the time. Web
2.0 generally offers services above and beyond what the web
could offer years ago. There’s obviously a strong multimedia
component, with audio and video. Add to that social networking, with wikis and blogs. Then top it off with ajax, flash, java,
and other programming tools which run right in your browser.
Now you have nearly every capability through your browser
that you could do on your computer with a stand alone application. You can back up your work, create, save and organize your documents, run your office applications - all online.
And social networking adds so much more, such as collaboration, feedback, aggregated knowledge and information!
This article gives a limited and brief directory listing of some
of the exciting Web 2.0 sites that education can benefit from.
Most of the descriptions come right from their sites. Hopefully, you’ll find many of these useful to you.
30 Boxes: 30 Boxes™ lets you connect with
the people who matter most. Remember birthdays, know
what’s going on, get stuff done, keep up with friends, and
more!
30 boxes is, according to its homepage, a “critically acclaimed calendar, natural language entry, ajax, full screen,
blazing fast, invitations, sms reminders, repeating events,
integrated maps, tagging, share by tags, customizable,
multiple themes, simple sharing, weather, track myspace,
flickr, webshots, livejournal, blogger and more, instant photo
sharing, your calendar is a timeline, add rss + ical feeds, all
data is exportable, calendar badges + widgets, instant home
page, track your buddies, custom webtop/start page, reliable messaging, tracked link sharing, the best to do list ever,
perfect for GTD, buddy cards, great for your contact list, sms
messaging built in, available on your phone, status updates,
better than paper!”
•
Share your wisdom by adding your Bits to any Blink...
•
Blink any Bit to increase the ranking...
•
Bonus: Any Bit you Blink or Share is saved to your own
personal view”
Link: http://www.blinkbits.com/
Bloglines: Bloglines is a FREE
online service for searching, subscribing, creating and sharing news feeds, blogs and rich web content. With Bloglines,
there is no software to download or install -- simply register
as a new user and you can instantly begin accessing your
account any time, from any computer or mobile device. And
it’s FREE!
Link: http://www.bloglines.com/
Box: “Founded in March 2005,
Box.net (www.box.net) is the first online file system. Box.net
enables users to share, store, and access files of any type
from anywhere. Box.net is a leader in this space with more
than 1.2 million users, over 1 million files served every day,
and more than 1000 developers in the Box Enabled Network.
Box.net is the first web-native system for access and collaboration which allows a broad array of functionality. The system
is used by individuals, small businesses and Fortune 1000
companies. Box.net was the first internet storage provider to
launch an open API in late 2005. Box.net is a privately held
company headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, and is backed by
venture capitalist firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson.” You can try
Box for free, but it is a subscription services, with 2 GB of
online storage for $25 per year.
Link: http://www.box.net
Link: http://30boxes.com/
Backpack: “Backpack is a simple
web-based service that allows you to make pages with todo lists, notes, files, and images. Backpack also features a
Calendar and Reminders that can be sent via email or to your
cell phone at predefined times. Tagging pages makes it easy
to group related pages together.”
BrainReactions: A brainstorming room is a private space for you to brainstorm online with a
team you invite. It’s a free service for one brainstorm room for
up to a team of five people. More than that, you pay as you
go, no long-term contracts, no sign-up fee, no termination
fee, cancel at any time. Link: http://www.backpackit.com/
You choose who can read and contribute ideas! Each Brainstorming Room includes an invitation tool that allows you to
easily invite anyone to join your room. Only people you invite
can view your room, keeping your brainstorms and ideas
confidential and secure!
BlinkBits: “The collective wisdom of
all mankind available in the “Blink of an Eye”... that’s what
Blinkbits can be... if we all work together. Enough of my long
term vision... here’s why you should Blink Bits today:
•
Discover the wisdom of others by reading Blinks started
by others...
UCET - Page 5
You can also track the performance of people in your room!
Compare which users are contributing the most ideas! Also
see how long since the last time each user contributed an
idea!
Link: http://www.brainreactions.net
Calcoolate: Claims to be the “coolest calculator on the web.” Part calculator (sines, cosines,
hex, logs, square roots), and part conversion tool (distance,
length, speed, temperature, weight, volume, area, and currency), this online calculator will perform most functions you’d
like to try.
Link: http://www.calcoolate.com
“Web 2.0 era”. It lets webizens easily collaborate by sharing
opinions and resources. It enables and encourages participation in private or public community workspaces.
With CoPe_it!, you can: Create a personal or collaborative
workspace, join and contribute to a workspace, or add and
share new content through a workspace.
Content may consist of ideas, comments, notes or any other
type of multimedia documents that exist on a local PC or
around the Internet.”
Link: http://copeit.cti.gr
Campfire: A paid service, “Campfire
is a web-based group chat tool that lets you set up passwordprotected chat rooms in just seconds. Invite a client, colleague, or vendor to chat, collaborate, and make decisions.
Link to a room on your intranet for internal communications.
There are so many ways to use Campfire. Chatting, file sharing, image previewing, decision making, etc. Up to 60 people
can chat at once. You can even browse previous chats by
person, room, or date.”
Link: http://www.campfirenow.com/
Chalksite: “What is Chalksite? It’s
the quickest, simplest route to expanding your classroom
onto the internet. Teachers, students and parents have a
central point to access grading, assignments, discussions
and messaging. Chalksite is a total web package designed
just for teachers, giving you a personal website and tools you
actually need without requiring an IT degree to use them.”
Free.
Link: http://chalksite.com/
CollegeRuled: “CollegeRuled.com
is a resource for university students. We are making tools,
pages and features to help college students stay organized
and connect with classmates. We’ll be adding more stuff as
we go.” Create a class schedule, and link it to your FaceBook account. A message board / discussion area is automatically created for each class on your schedule. You can
use it to discuss assignments with classmates, group work,
ask questions. Each class on your schedule gets its own
“Organizer” - a single, simple, yet powerful page where you
can create lists, writes notes, manage to-do-lists and more.
Your latest notes, ideas and information - all available from
any computer. Note: You will need a “.edu” email address to
sign up.
Link: http://collegeruled.com/
del.icio.us: “del.icio.us is a collection
of favorites - yours and everyone else’s. You can use del.icio.
us to:
•
Keep links to your favorite articles, blogs, music, reviews,
recipes, and more, and access them from any computer
on the web.
•
Share favorites with friends, family, coworkers, and the
del.icio.us community.
•
Discover new things. Everything on del.icio.us is someone’s favorite -- they’ve already done the work of finding
it. So del.icio.us is full of bookmarks about technology,
entertainment, useful information, and more. Explore and
enjoy.
del.icio.us is a social bookmarking website -- the primary use
of del.icio.us is to store your bookmarks online, which allows
you to access the same bookmarks from any computer and
add bookmarks from anywhere, too. On del.icio.us, you can
use tags to organize and remember your bookmarks, which
is a much more flexible system than folders.
You can also use del.icio.us to see the interesting links that
your friends and other people bookmark, and share links with
them in return. You can even browse and search del.icio.us
to discover the cool and useful bookmarks that everyone else
has saved -- which is made easy with tags.”
Link: http://del.icio.us/
Digg: “Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From
the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog,
Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users. You
won’t find editors at Digg — we’re here to provide a place
where people can collectively determine the value of content
and we’re changing the way people consume information
online.
Take a Quick Tour of Digg
Cope_It: “CoPe_it! is a tool of the
UCET - Page 6
How do we do this? Everything on Digg — from news to
videos to images to Podcasts — is submitted by our community (that would be you). Once something is submitted, other
people see it and Digg what they like best. If your submission
rocks and receives enough Diggs, it is promoted to the front
page for the millions of our visitors to see.
And it doesn’t stop there. Because Digg is all about sharing
and discovery, there’s a conversation that happens around
the content. We’re here to promote that conversation and
provide tools for our community to discuss the topics that
they’re passionate about. By looking at information through
the lens of the collective community on Digg, you’ll always
find something interesting and unique. We’re committed to
giving every piece of content on the web an equal shot at being the next big thing.”
Link: http://digg.com
Diigo: “The Diigo team is dedicated to
provide innovative and useful web services for our users. The
name “Diigo” is an abbreviation for “Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other stuff.”
Diigo (dee’go) is about “Social Annotation”. By combining
social bookmarking, clippings, in situ annotation, tagging,
full-text search, easy sharing and interactions, Diigo offers a
powerful personal tool and a rich social platform for knowledge users, and in the process, turns the entire web into a
writable, participatory and interactive media.
The social annotation service introduced by Diigo allows
users to add highlights and sticky notes, in situ, on any web
page they read. Imagine a giant transparency overlaying on
top of all the web pages. Users can write on the transparency
as they wish, as private notes or public comments. And they
can read public comments on the transparency left by other
readers of the same page, and hear their “two cents” and
interact with them.”
don’t pay a nickel.”
Link: http://docs.google.com/
eTutor: “e-Tutor is the premier K-12
Internet education program for students, parents and educators, providing empowering tools and quality educational
content, to create a customized learning community...
...The interactive e-Tutor lesson modules are created by
teachers from across the United States. Lesson modules are
aligned with state and national goals and standards in the
four core curriculum areas:
•
English - Language Arts
•
Math
•
Science
•
Social Studies
The program is fully accessible through the Internet, allowing registered users’ access from any location. No software,
plug-ins or additional components are needed.
Lesson Module Contents: Each lesson module includes an
introduction, goals, lesson problem, vocabulary, study guide,
activity, extended learning, resources, quizzes, and an exam.
Lesson modules draw upon real-life situations to which
students can relate, such as creating a budget or reviewing a
movie. Interesting topics and colorful graphics make e-Tutor
effective and inviting to the student. Embedded Internet links
and vocabulary hyperlinks support each lesson.”
Link: http://www.e-tutor.com/
Link: http://www.diigo.com
Google Docs: “Create and share
your work online. Create, edit and upload quickly. Import
your existing documents, spreadsheets and presentations,
or create new ones
from scratch. Access and edit from
anywhere.
All
you need is a Web
browser. Your documents are stored
securely online. You
can share changes
in real time with others. Invite people
to your documents
and make changes
together, at the same
time. It’s free -- you
UCET - Page 7
Empressr: “What is Empressr?
Empressr is a web application which lets you create, share
and store Flash-based presentations online. All you need is a
web browser to create rich media presentations. You can also
share the presentations with anyone and access them online
at anytime.
Is there a limit to the number of presentations I can create?
At the moment you can create
and save up to five presentations.
In the future, limits on number of
presentations will be replaced by
the total server space allocated to
your account.
Can I get more storage space for
my presentations? Additional storage space is not available with this
Alpha release of the application.
In the future, however, you will be
able to purchase additional storage
and hosting services.”
Link: http://www.empressr.com
outside blogs or ways we haven’t thought of yet. What else
are we going to use those smart refrigerators for?
Engrade: “Engrade is a free set
of web-based tools for educators, allowing them to manage
their classes online and increase parent-student involvement
by posting class information online. Engrade is used in every
type of class in every type of school in hundreds of countries
around the world. It’s private, secure, truly free, and unbelievable easy to use - so join over 250,000 teachers, parents,
and students using Engrade today.
•
Free Online Gradebook - Automatically calculate grades,
customize grading scales, weight assignments
•
Free Online Attendance Book - Easily record customizable attendance marks
•
Free Online Calendar - Quickly posts upcoming homework and events for parents and students
•
Free Online Student Reports - Provide private, online access to grades, attendance, and homework
•
Free Online Messaging - Privately message students and
parents in a safe enviroment
•
Web-based, Easy to Get Started - Set up takes minutes,
all you need is a free online account
•
Truly Free Forever - Engrade is funded by its employees
so it is completely free for all users”
Link: http://www.engrade.com/
Facebook: “Facebook is a social
utility that connects people with friends and others who work,
study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep
up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share
links and videos, and learn more about the people they
meet.”
Link: http://www.facebook.com
Flickr: “Flickr - almost certainly the
best online photo management and sharing application in the
world - has two main goals:
1. We want to help people make their photos available to the
people who matter to them.
Maybe they want to keep a blog of moments captured on
their cameraphone, or maybe they want to show off their
best pictures to the whole world in a bid for web celebrity. Or
maybe they want to securely and privately share photos of
their kids with their family across the country. Flickr makes all
these things possible and more!
To do this, we want to get photos into and out of the system in as many ways as we can: from the web, from mobile
devices, from the users’ home computers and from whatever
software they are using to manage their photos. And we want
to be able to push them out in as many ways as possible:
on the Flickr website, in RSS feeds, by email, by posting to
UCET - Page 8
Flickr is the WD-40 that makes it easy to get photos from one
person to another in whatever way they want.
2. We want to enable new ways of organizing photos.
Once you make the switch to digital, it is all too easy to get
overwhelmed with the sheer number of photos you take with
that itchy trigger finger. Albums, the principal way people go
about organizing photos today, are great -- until you get to 20
or 30 or 50 of them. They worked in the days of getting rolls
of film developed, but the “album” metaphor is in desperate
need of a Florida condo and full retirement.
Part of the solution is to make the process of organizing photos collaborative. In Flickr, you can give your friends, family,
and other contacts permission to organize your photos - not
just to add comments, but also notes and tags. People like to
ooh and ahh, laugh and cry, make wisecracks when sharing
photos. Why not give them the ability to do this when they
look at them over the internet? And as all this info accretes
around the photos as metadata, you can find them so much
easier later on, since all this info is also searchable.
Flickr continues to evolve in myriad ways, all of which are
designed to make it easier and better. Check out the Flickr
Blog to stay apprised of the latest developments. The fact
that you’ve read to the end of this entire document and are
hanging out at the bottom of this page with nothing but this
silly text to keep you company is proof of a deep and abiding
interest on your part. What are you waiting for?”
Link: http://www.flickr.com
Gliffy: Gliffy makes it simple to organize
your thoughts and share them with family, colleagues, and
organizations. When you take your ideas and organize them
visually, it’s easier for you and others to really understand
them. Plus, you can move things around on paper, test different options, and find the right solution.
•
Create a floor plan and shift furniture around to find just
the right set up.
•
Do mind mapping to improve learning, get organized, or
boost creativity.
•
Set up org charts that others can update themselves.
•
Arrange seating charts for events, easily managing complex guest lists.
•
Define a process and publish to your team.
•
Collaborate on a methodology.
•
Publish a diagram to augment class materials.
•
Map out an idea in a line drawing. You don’t have to be
an artist to create good drawings with Gliffy.
Create an endless variety of professional-looking diagrams,
drawings, process flows, interfaces, and designs.” Gliffy
basic is free. Gliffy Premium is subscription based.
Link: http://www.gliffy.com
•
GradeFix: “Frantically trying to keep
on top of homework is a waste of time. Instead of spending
time trying to figure out what homework to do, let Gradefix do
the organizing for you. Simply add your homework tasks and
Gradefix will work them into your schedule.
The best students prepare in advance for the busy times during the school year. The Gradefix algorithm will automatically
calculate how to balance your load and get everything done
according to your unique schedule.”
Link: http://www.gradefix.com/
Chat live with the experts and get your answer.
If there is a question you would like to answer:
•
Click on a Guruza question link to find out the question
details (reward, description ... etc).
•
Click on the answer question link if you know the answer
and the price is right.
•
Chat with the person who asked the question and give
them your answer.
•
Collect the reward for a correct answer.
•
Click the “cash out” link to have your earnings sent to you
through PayPal.”
Link: http://guruza.com
GroupVine: “What does Groupvine
do? Groupvine makes it easy to be a group — it keeps you
in the loop, lets people do what they’re supposed to do and
gives you a clear way to connect to your campus, town or
other like-minded groups.
•
Keep track of important dates, times and locations
•
Remember what has to be done and who’s doing it with
to-do lists
•
Network & work with other groups
•
Send messages to the people that want to get them
•
Get instant, organized feedback with comments
•
Store & archive files like notes, contracts, t-shirt designs
or tests
•
See what’s happening across all your groups in one
screen
•
Keep tabs on groups in which you might have an interest
We think sharing is important. That’s why Groupvine will automatically publish public events that can be seen by groups
of the same type — at different schools and even different
states. And don’t forget that you can share to-dos, events,
messages, files and more with other groups for joint projects.”
Link: http://thegroupvine.com
Guruza: “Guruza allows you to
chat with experts until you get an answer to your question.
Guruza is a marketplace that brings together people seeking
knowledge with those who can provide it. You don’t pay unless you get the answer you are looking for.
Go ahead and try it out—it only takes a minute to get started!
Just enter a question into the box below, decide on how much
you offer to have it answered, and submit to Guruza.
•
If you have a question you would like answered:
•
Enter your question on the Guruza homepage.
•
Post the provided link anywhere there are experts who
may be able to answer your question (an IRC channel for
instance).
•
Go to the chat lobby to wait for experts.
UCET - Page 9
Haiku: Haiku Learning Management System is a Content Management System to create
and move content of any kind. Create your own homepage
with photos and videos of yourself and family with links to
your myspace®, friendster®, yahoo360®, or flickr™ website.
Organize your class website by subject, by date, by semester – any way you want. Want more than one active class?
Want to add more files? Photos? Audio? Upgrading is easy
and it’s really cheap, especially when you see how much
time it will save you.” Haiku allows you to set up a class,
has a gradebook, an assessment feature, and typical web
2.0 social networking features such as one-on-one discussions or group discussions. Free at the most basic level, with
increasing monthly fees as you add more storage space and
active classes.
Link: http://www.haikuls.com/
GE Imagination Cubed: Basically, this fun site is an electronic sheet of paper that you can
draw on (with pen, shapes, stamps, lines, text, and color).
Once you’ve drawn your masterpiece, you can save, send,
or print it. You can replay what you’ve drawn (and watch it
draw, just like you recorded a movie of it).
Link: http://www.imaginationcubed.com/
NCES Kids’ Zone: A fun site
from NCES (The National Center for Educational Statistics).
The NCES Kids’ Zone provides information to help you learn
about schools; decide on a college; find a public library; engage in several games, quizzes and skill building about math,
probability, graphing, and mathematicians; and to learn many
interesting facts about education.
Link: http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids
Linked In: “LinkedIn is an online
network of more than 17 million experienced professionals
from around the world, representing 150 industries.
MindMeister: “MindMeister
brings the concept of mind mapping to the web, using its
facilities for real-time collaboration to allow truly global brainstorming sessions.
When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your
professional accomplishments. Your profile helps you find
and be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners. You
can add more connections by inviting trusted contacts to join
LinkedIn and connect to you.
Users can create, manage and share mind maps online
and access them anytime, from anywhere. In brainstorming
mode, fellow MindMeisters from around the world (or just in
different rooms) can simultaneously work on the same mind
map - and see each other’s changes as they happen. Using
integrated Skype calls, they can throw around new ideas and
put them down on “paper” at the same time.”
Your network consists of your connections, your connections’
connections, and the people they know, linking you to thousands of qualified professionals.
Three levels of service: Basic, which is free; Premium ($4
per month); and Team (variable - beginning at $2.80 per
month).
Through your network you can:
Link: http://www.mindmeister.com/
•
Find potential clients, service providers, subject experts,
and partners who come recommended
•
Be found for business opportunities
•
Search for great jobs
•
Discover inside connections that can help you land jobs
and close deals
•
Post and distribute job listings
•
Find high-quality passive candidates
•
Get introduced to other professionals through the people
you know
Mindomo: “Mindomo is a versatile Web-based mind mapping tool, delivering the capabilities
of desktop mind mapping software in a Web browser - with
no complex software to install or maintain.
Create, edit mind maps, and share them with your colleagues
or your friends.” Like MindMeister, basic service is free. Premium service is $6.00 per month.
Link: http://www.mindomo.com/
LinkedIn is free to join. We also offer paid accounts that give
you more tools for finding and reaching the right people,
whether or not they are in your network.”
Link: http://www.linkedin.com
MyNoteIt: “Take, edit and
share notes online:
•
Take and store your notes online.
•
Edit and revise notes with peers.
•
Look-up and define words with your Workspace Utilities.
NoteMesh: “NoteMesh is a free
service that allows college students in the same classes to
share notes with each other. It works by creating a wiki for
individual classes that users can edit. Users are free to post
their own lecture notes or contribute to existing lecture notes.
The idea is that users in the same class can collaboratively
create a definitive source for lecture notes.”
Easily search and share notes
•
Keep track of what you have to do, and what you’ve
done.
Link: http://www.notemesh.com
•
Never forget about homework or a quiz.
•
Search and bookmark notes.
•
Share notes with your friends and groups.
Manage tasks with your to-do list
Manage assignments with your calendar
•
Meebo: “meebo.com is a website
for instant messaging from absolutely anywhere. Whether
you’re at home, on campus, at work, or traveling foreign
lands, hop over to meebo.com on any computer to access
all of your buddies (on AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, Google Talk, ICQ
and Jabber) and chat with them, no downloads or installs
required, for free!”
Link: http://wwwe.meebo.com/
UCET - Page 10
Advanced calendar for easy assignment management.
Stay in the loop with class groups
•
Share notes and assignments with everybody in your
class.
•
Post questions on the message board.”
Link: http://www.mynoteit.com
There’s more! But that’s all we have time for this month.
More next month! Please suggest your own favorites, too!
http://www.ucet.org
Member Newsletter for March 2008
Thank You!
UCET 2008
Dear UCET Members,
WOW!!! What a conference! This was the largest UCET
conference to date and all I can say is thank you! This
conference is for you and you made it worth all of the
time and effort. I would also like to thank the board for all
of the service they provided. Every board member had
many assignments to carry out to make the conference a
success and each worked above and beyond.
David Pogue did a wonderful job inspiring us with all
sorts of new ideas to ponder and hopefully, you will find
new uses for technology in your classrooms. I know that
I sure had fun and learned some new things this year.
The sessions were great and we had more presentations
than ever before. We also had more vendors this year to
demonstrate what new products have been introduced for
classrooms.
Now that we have finished the conference, may I ask
you to please fill out the on-line evaluation form at http://
UCET - March 2008 - Page 1
www.ucet.org. This is the only way that we can improve the
conference and make it better each and every year. You
also still have time to submit your application for the UCET
Grant. This is your opportunity to get new technologies
into your classroom. You will find the application on the
UCET website and you have until the end of March to get
it submitted.
We will have the video links to David Pogue’s keynote
and his two other sessions up on the website just as soon
as they are done. We will also release a couple of the
Over-the-Shoulder sessions every month, along with the
UCET Newsletter. These short video clips will help you to
incorporate new technologies into your classroom.
Once again, thanks for attending the conference and I
look forward to all the great newsletters and resources
that we will have between now and our next conference.
Ross Rogers, UCET President.
UCET 2008 Awards Presented!
Wynn Porter - Utah Technology Educator Of The Year
Tooele School District
5th Grade Teacher at Rose Springs Elementary
Jane has had to figure out creative and alternative
funding to pay for the eight eMINTS and four eMINTS4all
classrooms. She has also chosen to use her principal
professional development days as ongoing technology
education for the teachers in this school. Jane realizes the
value of technology integration in education and makes
sure that Pleasant Green Elementary is technology rich.
Jack Erickson - UCET 2008 Excellence in Technology
Service Award
Southwest Education Development Center
Wynn Porter has an exemplary technology integrated
classroom and is continuously learning the application of
new technological advances. Wynn has the ability to keep
his students on task and doesn’t have problems in his
classroom, but learning opportunities.
Wynn has been a mentor/coach to his school and district
peers on implementing technology. Wynn has organized
a “Tech Tuesday” where new programs, best practices
and new equipment are showcased with his colleagues.
Wynn is an outstanding technology teacher whose opinion
is valued and trusted by district administrators, teachers,
students and parents.
Jane Lindsay - Utah Technology Leader Of The Year
Granite School District
Principal of Pleasant Green Elementary
Jack Erickson has been the Network Engineer at the
Southwest Educational Development Center (SEDC)
in Cedar City, Utah for over ten years. During that time
Jack has been involved in the design and implementation
of virtually every technology deployed in the Southwest
region (Kane, Millard, Garfield, Washington, Iron, and
Beaver districts). He has worked countless hours
helping teachers use technology effectively. He always
finds time to provide technical support for school
administrators and teachers. Jack has been instrumental
in the implementation the regional CyberCorps program,
training high school students to support and train their
teachers and to support the schools network. Over the
last several years, Jack has been key to the success of
the regional data driven decision-making program for the
schools by providing robust and reliable data servers and
meaningful reports. Jack has designed, implemented
and maintained the regional Video Conferencing System,
providing vast amount of distance educational programs
and opportunities for the students and staff in the districts
he serves. With all projects and programs Jack has
implemented in the SEDC region, he is always focused on
how to best help the students and teachers.
Jack’s vast knowledge and good nature, combined with
his unparalleled level of commitment to his profession,
has made him one of Utah’s best known and most loved
technology personnel.
Jane Lindsay, the Principal at Pleasant Green Elementary,
has focused on technology integration at her school.
UCET - March 2008 - Page 2
UCET extends their sincere congratulations to these
honored educators. We are grateful to be able to work
with you and the many many other dedicated educators
and information technology specialists in our state!
Web 2.0 - Educational Smorgasboard - Pt. 2
This is a continuation of the article in our February 2008
newsletter, where we covered a number of Web 2.0 sites
that have educational promise. As with last month’s articles,
most of the description text comes right from their own sites.
Let’s pick up where we left off...
NewsgatorOnline - “Do you spend too much time trying to
figure out what’s new on your favorite web sites and blogs?
NewsGator’s Online tracks it all and brings the web pages
to you.
Now you can read more and search less. And it’s free!
MyStickies -” MyStickies lets you save the web for later.
To put it simply, MyStickies allows you to place little yellow
squares of digital paper anywhere and everywhere you
feel like in the whole wide web. Along with the ability to
put sticky notes on webpages mystickies offers a powerful
interface to browse, search, sort, edit and generally have
a wonderfull time with your sticky notes from any computer
that has internet access.
Goodbye to Bookmarks? MyStickies is like bookmarks on
steroids. While bookmarks store the title of a webpage and
its link, they do little to help you find what was important
about the page and why exactly you chose to mark it.
MyStickies solves this problem by giving you the power to
mark up the page the way you like, and a tool to find notes
easily and efficiently.”
Everyone’s doing it! Heard of RSS? Seen those cool xml
and RSS buttons on your favorite web sites and blogs?
Now you can subscribe automatically to those feeds and
organize them exactly as YOU want!
What feeds are available in this format? How about the
New York Times, Reuters, Yahoo, The Wall Street Journal,
and The Washington Post. Millions of blog sites. Enter
a search on the left; you’ll be amazed at all the content
you can track on any topic that matters to you. RSS is the
fastest growing technology for distributing information...join
the revolution!
NewsGator Online also includes synchronization with
Outlook Edition, viewing content on TV with Media
Center Edition, as well as the publication of blogrolls and
headlines.”
Link: http://www.newsgator.com/
Link: http://www.mystickies.com/
Neptune - “Neptune is a web-based tool to help you get
stuff done. It is
based on the
principles in David
Allen’s Getting
Things Done.
Neptune is simple,
fast, and stays out
of your way:
•
•
•
•
Easy to
“collect”
information
on the site,
or email
new tasks to
Neptune at any
time to keep
them out of
your head.
Receive an email report every morning with your next
actions and reminders.
Online document system to allow you to create
reference materials, or upload any file and store it with a
project.
Works on any modern browser, so wherever you are in
the world, you will always have access to your projects.”
Link: http://www.neptunehq.com/
UCET - March 2008 - Page 3
NinjaWords - “A super fast, powerful dictionary. Why is
this called Ninjawords?
Ninjas are three things:
• They’re smart
• They’re accurate
• They’re really fast
Ninjawords is based on these principles. Plus everyone
likes ninjas.
Some tips to use it even faster. You can compare
definitions by looking up many words on the same page.
Type them one by one and hit enter, or type them all at
once in the search box, separated by commas. In fact, you
can just type the words you want to look up right into the
URL bar:
You can create a list of word definitions all on one page (try
using it to keep track of SAT vocab words you’re having
trouble with). You can then bookmark it, or send the link to
others.
Use it everywhere!”
Link: http://ninjawords.com
Pipes - “Pipes is a free online service that lets you remix
popular feed types and create data mashups using a visual
editor. You can use Pipes to run your own web projects,
or publish and share your own web services without ever
having to write a line of code.
Like Unix pipes, simple commands can be combined
together to create output that meets your needs:
•
combine many feeds into one, then sort, filter and
translate it.
• geocode your favorite feeds and browse the items on
an interactive map.
• power widgets/badges on your web site.
• grab the output of any Pipes as RSS, JSON, KML, and
other formats.”
Link: http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/
PocketMod - “The PocketMod is a new way to keep
yourself organized. Lets face it, PDAs are too expensive
and cumbersome, and organizers are bulky and hard to
carry around. Nothing beats a folded up piece of paper.
That is until now. With the PocketMod, you can carry
around the days notes, keep them organized in any way
you wish, then easily transfer the notes to your PDA,
spreadsheet, or planner.
The PocketMod is a small book with guides on each page.
These guides or templates, combined with a unique folding
style, enable a normal piece of paper to become the
ultimate note card. It is hard to describe just how incredibly
useful the PocketMod is. It’s best that you just dive in and
create one.
What makes the PocketMod so special?
Many things make this little personal organizer special,
here is a list.
•
•
It fits easily in your back pocket or purse.
It’s as cheap as one piece of paper (Because that’s all
it is!)
• It opens like a book. Leading to easier to find, more
organized notes.
• The first page has a pouch, big enough to carry a
business card!
• Customizable with “Mods” tailored to your needs.
• It’s free and fun!”
Link: http://www.pocketmod.com/
UCET - March 2008 - Page 4
Postgenomic - “Postgenomic collates posts from life
science blogs and then does useful and interesting things
with that data. For example, it allows you to get an instant
picture of which web sites are being heavily linked to by
researchers in the medical sciences, or which papers are
being cited or reviewed most often by bioinformaticians, or
which buzzwords are being used the most frequently by
evolutionary biologists. It’s sort of like a hot papers meeting
with the entire biomed blogging community.”
Link: http://www.postgenomic.com/
Qunu - “Qunu is about RIGHT NOW! Not in 5 minutes
or two hours or 3 days. It is about finding and talking to
someone who most likely knows what you don’t.
Qunu was originally dreamt up as a way for people to get
free, live chat tech support for products, direct from those
who were most passionate about those products -- the
users themselves. The concept has resonated hugely, and
since launch in July 2006 we have amassed thousands
of experts donating help sessions in tens of thousands of
topic areas, which suggests that Qunu has grown beyond
just tech support.
In fact, examination of search and usage patterns suggests
that Qunu is reinventing Search itself. Think of Qunu like a
search engine that returns people instead of documents -a mashup of search and instant messaging.
We realized that people love to help, but in ways
convenient for them -- which meant integrating directly with
existing instant messaging software. This is where all the
existing Q&A services were lacking. If you wanted to help
out, you needed to visit a site repeatedly or keep a page
open all day.
How You Can Help: Do you corner people at parties to tell
them about the great software you use? Do you enjoy the
warm fuzzy feeling that goes with showing someone the
light? Great! We’ve created this system for people like you!
Tell us about yourself. Grab an account and nominate
a bunch of tags that you’d like to provide help for. For
example, “photoshop”, “ajax”, or “macbook”. When a user
does a search on any of those tags, your profile will appear.
When someone wants to ask you a question, we’ll route the
request straight to your existing IM program in form of an
invitation you can quickly accept or refuse. Qunu will most
likely talk to your existing IM software. If it doesn’t, here’s
a list of (multi-protocol) software clients you might like to
use to that will let you keep talking to your buddies on AOL/
Yahoo/ICQ/MSN.”
Link: http://qunu.com
schoolr - schoolr is
a handy research site
that acts like a search
engine. In fact, the “r”
stands for research. It
includes search fields for
Google Search, Wikipedia
Search, Dictionary
Search, Thesaurus
Search, Acronym Search,
Urban Dictionary Search,
Encyclopedia Search,
Citation Builder, Book
Summary Search, Text
Translator, and Unit
Converter.
“schoolr has a mobile site, too. Just type in m.schoolr.com
on your phone and you’ll be good to go.”
Link: http://www.schoolr.com
Schoopy - “SCHOOPY is an education network that
helps you to explore and learn from others, connect and
communicate with your school, classes, clubs, teams,
commitees, friends and family, express your educational
goals and achievements and organize and manage your
school life.
For Teachers, Students & Parents:
•
•
•
•
Create and update your own personal profile
Quickly post and share what you’ve Learned
Post, tag and rate helpful school related bookmarks
Connect with your schools, classrooms, friends and
family
• Message easily with your friends, family, classes,
clubs, teams, commitees and school
• Meet like minded people in your extended network
• Ask and answer school related questions
• Play educational games and compete with your friends
and family
...more for Teachers:
•
Organize your classes, clubs, teams, commitees and
school
• Post important dates and reminders
• Customize your school’s homepage
• Create quizzes
• Post and receive assignments
• Share files and pictures
• Publish a school, classroom or otherwise interesting
blog”
Link: http://www.schoopy.com
Snipshot - Snipshot is a free online photo editing web
application. You can rotate, crop, color enhance, sharpen,
and more. The paid version, Snipshot Pro, allows you even
more options such as changing a color image to black and
white, or sepia tone, and more. Some features...
•
•
•
•
“New! Edit RAW files online
New! Apply special effects
New! Make portraits faster with face detection
Get our Firefox extension to put Snipshot in your rightclick menu
• Our free API lets you use Snipshot for your own
website
• No download necessary—100% browser based, no
plug-ins required
• One-click import from any web site with our
bookmarklet
• Save to a free permanent URL at WebShots
• Save as GIF, JPG, PDF, PNG or TIF
• One-click enhance improves most images
• Basic editing tools like crop, rotate, resize
• Basic image adjustments like contrast, brightness,
saturation, sharpness and hue
• Unlimited undo and redo
• Nondestructive editing—we always work from the
original
• Edit big pictures—up to 10 MB, or 25 megapixels
(5000x5000 pixels)
• Import PDF (first page only)”
Link: http://snipshot.com/
Spellify - “Want to make it easier for visitors to your web
page to fill out text boxes without fear of spelling mistakes?
Spellify is a versatile spell checking solution that lets users
spell check text boxes on your web sites.
The users just type the words/sentence they want to be
spell-checked and if there’s an error, out pops a small
dialogue box with proper spelling-suggestions. Password
fields are automatically ignored. You can also specify
Spellify to ignore special text fields if you want to. There is
no need to press the “Go” or “Check” button or nothing.
The current version of Spellify is compatible with most of
the front running browsers in the market including Internet
Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and Safari.” (downloadsquad.com)
Link: http://spellify.com/
UCET - March 2008 - Page 5
•
We generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in
annual royalties to charities and to our users.
What about the money? Squidoo makes money from ads
and affiliate links. We give 5% of what we earn, right off
the top, to charity. We keep 45% to cover our overhead
and stuff. That leaves 50%. That goes to charity or to the
people who build the pages. And we leave it up to you to
choose one or the other. It’s that simple. You can earn a
dollar, a nickel or a dime at a time for your favorite cause
or for you. Did we mention that Squidoo is free? Always
has been.”
Link: http://www.squidoo.com
Spreeder - Are you old enough to remember the speed
reading drills we used to do in elementary school? There
was this old projector that would flash words up on the
screen at a certain speed, and you’d try to keep up reading
and comprehending, for there would be a quiz afterward.
Spreeder is a similar kind of tool. Simply put, you paste
text into a text box and tell the web application to do some
“spreeding.” The words will flash by on the screen at the
rate you’ve specified in the settings.
Not only can you set the speed in words per minute, but
you can set the size of the text and the window. Here’s a
fun little application.
Link: http://www.spreeder.com/
Team Cowboy - “What’s Team Cowboy all about? (a
message from the founder)
Thanks for taking a look at Team Cowboy! I’ve been
working hard to create this powerful and FREE tool that
allows players of organized sports teams to communicate
and collaborate easier than ever before. Whether your
team is organized around a community or school, I’m
confident that Team Cowboy will make your life easier.
The best way to understand the site is to consider it from
two different perspectives:
•
Squidoo - “What’s this all about? Squidoo is a hand-built
collection of half a million pages built by people just like
you. Squidoo is about finding people when you care what
they know instead of who they know. And Squidoo raises
big money for charity every single day by donating money
from the ads and links you see on every page. These
pages are called lenses. A lens is one person’s view on
a topic that matters to her. It’s an easy-to-build, single
web page that can point to blogs, favorite links, RSS
feeds, Flickr photos, Google maps, your eBay auctions,
CafePress designs, Amazon books or music, and oh
so much more. That way, when someone is looking for
recommended information, fast, your lens gets him started
and sends him off in the right direction. Hooray for you!
Build one lens, build a hundred. It’s fast, fun, and free.
(And you could earn a royalty from each one--for you or for
charity). What are you waiting for!
Three or four facts:
•
•
•
Squidoo has more than 450,000 hand built pages.
Squidoo has been reviewed by the New York Times,
Mashable, BoingBoing and sites and papers around
the world.
We are one of the 300 most popular websites in the
US.
UCET - March 2008 - Page 6
As a manager of a team, you can keep track of
members on your team’s roster, setup your team’s
game schedule, record game scores, track payments,
and much more.
• As a player of a team, you can keep your other
teammates informed with whether or not you’ll be
attending games, view your team’s game schedule,
and easily communicate with other players.
Team Cowboy even automatically sends e-mail
announcements and reminders of upcoming events so you
can say goodbye to paper schedules forever!
More great features are on the way and as always, I’m
open to new feature ideas, questions, or comments.
Please drop me a line and I will reply promptly.
Sincerely, Travis - Team Cowboy Founder”
Link: http://www.teamcowboy.com
Thumbstacks.com - “Welcome to Thumbstacks.com, a
new site for making and sharing presentations on the web.
This site is just getting started, so if something’s missing,
or you can’t find what you need, please let us know! We’ll
help out as best we can.
What is it? With Thumbstacks.com, you can make
presentations - like slideshows, or outlines - right in your
web browser. When you’re done, you can share your
presentations with anyone, anywhere, just by sending
them a link.
How does it work? It all runs right here, in your web
browser. You can create your presentation, save it, modify
it, update it, whatever - then click “publish” and you’ll get a
link you can use to share it with everyone. The best way to
understand is to try it out!
How do I get started? You’ll need a user account (it’s
free!) so click “sign up.” Once you have an account, click
“presentation builder,” to start. If you have any questions,
check out the forum or ask us!”
Whonu - Whonu is a content search engine. You type a
question, or search terms, and you have a wide range of
search services at your fingertips, including searches on
content, multimedia, social networks, and more.
Link: http://www.thumbstacks.com/
Tutorialicious - “What is tutorialicious? tutorialicious is
a community-driven aggregator of the best programming,
design and Photoshop tutorials from across the web. The
tutorials you see have been submitted and voted on by
users just like you. If a tutorial is good, it naturally rises to
the front page with the help of satisfied users. Likewise,
if a submission is deemed unworthy by users, it will stay
at the bottom (although it will remain on the site as an
“unpublished” tutorial.)
How exactly does a tutorial reach the front page? As soon
as a submitted tutorial has reached a certain threshold of
votes, it gets moved from the new (“unpublished”) area
of the site onto the front page. As site volume grows, the
threshold adjusts automatically. Additionally, each vote
is weighted differently based on the user. A more active
user’s vote counts slightly more than a new member’s
vote, and this is factored into the ranking algorithm.
What’s with the name? Tutorial + Delicious = tutorialicious.
When you discover an awesome tutorial, it’s what we call
tutorialicious; worthy of being consumed by all. Our “real”
domain is tutorialicio.us, as reflected in the logo. However,
if it’s easier for you, tutorialicious.net will also work.
I’m only interested in one category of tutorials. How do I
just see those? We have a flavor for everyone! Whether
you are a Photoshop junkie or a Python lover, you can
choose the category most relevant to you at the top of
the homepage, just under the tutorialicious logo, and
bookmark that page for more convenient future returns.
How do I submit a tutorial? If you are a tutorial site
webmaster, we suggest you cruise over to the page
we’ve built specially for you. Otherwise, the easiest way
to submit a tutorial directly from the source site is to add
the following link to your bookmarks toolbar: tutorialicious
submit
Using this method will open the submit page in a new
window and automatically populate the URL field for you.
All you have to do is write a descriptive title, add tags,
choose the category and hit submit!”
Link: http://tutorialicio.us
UCET - March 2008 - Page 7
Type a search term, and you’ll find related, often used
search terms appear just below, allowing you to further
refine your search. Then you can choose from the many
search options below to complete your search.
Link: http://www.whonu.com/
Wikipedia - “Wikipedia is a multilingual, web-based, free
content encyclopedia project. The name Wikipedia is a
portmanteau of the words wiki (a type of collaborative
website) and encyclopedia. Wikipedia’s articles provide
links to guide the user to related pages with additional
information.
Wikipedia is written collaboratively by volunteers from all
around the world. Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has
grown rapidly into one of the largest reference Web sites.
There are more than 75,000 active contributors working on
some 9,000,000 articles in more than 250 languages. As
of today, there are 2,271,189 articles in English; every day
hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world
make tens of thousands of edits and create thousands
of new articles to enhance the knowledge held by the
Wikipedia encyclopedia.
Visitors do not need specialized qualifications to contribute,
since their primary role is to write articles that cover
existing knowledge; this means that people of all ages
and cultural and social backgrounds can write Wikipedia
articles. With rare exceptions, articles can be edited by
anyone with access to the Internet, simply by clicking the
edit this page link. Anyone is welcome to add information,
cross-references or citations, as long as they do so within
Wikipedia’s editing policies and to an appropriate standard.
For example, if you add information to an article, be sure to
include your references, as unreferenced facts are subject
to removal.
There is no need to worry about accidentally damaging
Wikipedia when adding or improving information, as other
editors are always around to advise or correct obvious
errors, and Wikipedia’s software, known as MediaWiki,
is carefully designed to allow easy reversal of editorial
mistakes.
Because Wikipedia is an ongoing work to which, in
principle, anybody can contribute, it differs from a paperbased reference source in important ways. In particular,
older articles tend to be more comprehensive and
balanced, while newer articles more frequently contain
significant misinformation, unencyclopedic content, or
vandalism. Users need to be aware of this to obtain
valid information and avoid misinformation that has been
recently added and not yet removed (see Researching
with Wikipedia for more details). However, unlike a paper
reference source, Wikipedia is continually updated, with
the creation or updating of articles on topical events within
seconds, minutes or hours, rather than months or years for
printed encyclopedias.”
Link: http://www.wikipedia.org/
an account. Wiki pages are fully internationalized, so you
can contribute content in any language you like. We take
care of hosting, backups, and upgrades so you don’t have
to.
Usability - Wikispaces is designed to be usable for
everyone. We’ve built a visual editor that lets you see the
layout and design of your page while you’re editing it. No
technical knowledge required. We also let you use wiki
markup if you’re so inclined. And we’ve made sure that
Wikispaces is fast even in large communities with lots of
activity.
Service - Our customer service has been called “crazy
amazing.” That’s because we’re more concerned about
helping you than doing anything else and because the
people who respond to your email are the same people
who built the service.”
Link: http://www.wikispaces.com
4Shared - “What is 4shared? Actually, it is a big online
storage where Internet users store their text, audio, video,
photo, and other files and share them, if they wish, with
other people. It is easy, handy, and free! Why not to try it
right now?
With the “File Share” feature you can upload and share any
of your files in a couple of minutes for free!
Wikispaces - “Wikispaces is run by Tangient which is
Dominick Bellizzi, James Byers and Adam Frey. We’re
continually refining Wikispaces based on input from our
communities and members. Drop us a note on our personal
wikispaces, in the main discussion area, or at help@
wikispaces.com. Welcome, and we look forward to hearing
from you.
What’s Important to us?
Simplicity - We’re firm believers that wikis can be
revolutionary tools for building communities. But most wikis
are very engineer-focused: hard to use, buried under busy
user interfaces, full of features only a geek could love.
Wikispaces is our attempt to build a wiki that’s easy to use
and easy to adopt for all kinds of audiences. We’ve kept
the tool simple so that you can focus on building content,
talking with other members, and growing your community.
Community - The majority of tools that exist to publish
content on the Internet are either one-to-many (e.g.
personal websites, blogs, news sites) or short-lived (forums
/ message boards, FAQs, etc.). Wikispaces gives groups
the freedom to publish pages that are long-lived, regularly
updated, and built by many contributors. We give you the
space to both publish and discuss content, without tangling
the two together.
Openness - Wikispaces is built to work anywhere, anytime.
All you need is a web browser and an Internet connection.
Members can create pages and spaces without undue
restrictions or rules. Guests can edit pages without creating
UCET - March 2008 - Page 8
Files can be shared with anyone, including not registered
4shared members, by providing them with a simple webbased link to shared files.
Use a handy 4shared email service to send a sharing link.
Simply specify email addresses of the people you are going
to share files with and choose the files.
The link will be enclosed to your email and then used as an
easy way to access your shared files.”
4Shared comes in several packaged plans, with the most
basic being free. That gives you 5 GB of storage space.
The service expires 30 days after your last login. You are
limited to a file upload size of 100 MB or less. File transfer
speed is 20000 kbps.
Other plans range in price from $48 per year to $5000 per
year for an enterprise hosting solution.
Link: http://www.4shared.com/
anywhere. This means as long
as you have Internet access
you can access your Zoho data
from any computer and enjoy a
productive and convenient working
experience wherever you go
without the hassle of bringing your
computer with you. In addition,
Zoho helps people collaborate on
projects and share information
with a simple mouse click. For
example, in Zoho Writer, there are
several ways to share documents
in private, make them public or
even perform collaborative editing
in real time. Zoho also offers a very
economical approach to getting
your work done. While we offer
free editions of all our applications,
businesses also have access to
our business editions at extremely
competitive rates.
Zoho - “What is Zoho all about? Zoho is a suite of online
applications (services) that you sign up for and access
from our Website. The applications are free for individuals
and some have a subscription fee for organizations.
Our vision is to provide our customers (individuals,
students, educators, non-profits, small and medium
sized businesses) with the most comprehensive set of
applications available anywhere (breadth); and for those
applications to have enough features (depth) to make your
user experience worthwhile.
Who is behind Zoho? Zoho is a division of AdventNet Inc.
A US-based company that has been creating and selling
cutting edge software solutions since 1996. The company
has tens of thousands of customers worldwide, is privately
held and profitable.
What is the main advantage of using Zoho? Zoho is
bringing together a wide range of online applications
making it easier for individuals and businesses to manage
all their work while dramatically reducing the cost. But being
more productive and saving money is just the beginning of
using Zoho. As we continue to integrate the various Zoho
services and innovate on new ways of getting things done,
we hope that you will find working online not only more
rewarding, more collaborative, but more enjoyable. You
can read some of our blog posts to learn more about some
of the advantages of working online. Here are a couple of
sample posts: “Offline vs. Online”. and “Business at the
Margins”. a post by Zoho’s founder and CEO.
While using Zoho your documents and data are securely
stored online on our servers and can be accessed from
UCET - March 2008 - Page 9
How do I get started? You can
start by simply clicking on the Zoho
service you are interested in and
filling in some basic information
to set up an account. We ask for
your e-mail address, a password
and a verification code to prevent
spammers from using the services.
Once you read and agree to the
Terms of Service and Privacy
policy you will receive an e-mail
asking to verify your account. You can start using the
service immediately. Zoho services support single sign on
(SSO) across all our applications (Z CRM is the exception
and will be added shortly), so once you subscribe to one
service, you have access to all the services using the same
user name or e-mail address and password.
5. What is Zoho Business? Zoho Business is both an
application and a kind of online “platform” that aggregates
a number of Zoho applications into a single dashboard
for users to manage the Zoho services they have
subscribed to as well as a place to view and access all your
documents. It also provides a sharable calendar, supports
groups, contacts, e-mail, tasks and a means to add and
pay for additional Zoho services and eventually other
third party services. One of the main differences between
using Z Business vs. the standalone “Personal” edition
applications, is that it provides company level subscriptions,
an administrator console and a set-up for different office
locations. Once an administrator logs in, he/she can add
users, locations and pay for the services required with a
credit card from our secure online store. You can even
replace the Zoho logo with your own company logo,
register domain names that belong to your company and
have employees access their Zoho Business account using
those domain names.
Is my data secured? Many people ask us this question.
And rightly so; Zoho has invested alot of time and money to
ensure that your information is secure and private. We offer
security on multiple levels including the physical, software
and people/process levels; In fact your data is more secure
than walking around with it on a laptop or even on your
corporate desktops.
Once I sign up is my personal or company information
secure? Yes. Our privacy policy states: “We assure you
that the contents of your Account will not be disclosed
to anyone and will not be accessible to employees of
AdventNet. Neither do we process the contents of your
Account for serving targeted advertisements.” Zoho is
not in the business of selling advertising nor will it sell
your personal information to third parties. In addition,
when you pay by credit card for Zoho services, your
credit card information is not stored by us, but is securely
passed to the credit card companies and in use for that
single transaction. Users can also access their personal
information to make changes and remove themselves from
the system.
How much does Zoho cost? Zoho offers free versions of
all its software including our business oriented applications
such as CRM. This will never change. You can always have
access to our free or “personal editions” Each of our feebased applications have different pricing models generally
charged with a credit card on a monthly basis. Select
the links here for each of those services: CRM, Projects,
Meeting, Business, Creator. In addition to our standard
pricing, we do offer volume based discounts for larger
customers and discounts to educational and non-profit
organizations. You can request more info by sending an
e-mail to [email protected] or [email protected]
Can I become a partner? Yes. Zoho has a partner program
called ZAPP and we are looking for experienced people
from around the world who share a vision of enabling
users to use online services to be more productive and
untethered from their desktops.
Do I still need Microsoft Office? We like to tell people that
it is entirely up to you. While we encourage everyone to
work online; sometimes you need offline access or simply
cannot work without your usual office tools. Zoho enables
the best of both worlds since Zoho Writer, Sheet and Show
support all the office formats including .doc, .xls and .ppt
you can use both. While working with Zoho online you can
take advantage of online collaboration with others and
the mobility Zoho provides; while working offline, you can
still us your MS Office tools. The good news is, we also
have a plug-in (a small application you download from our
site), that lets you create, edit and save your documents
& spreadsheets directly to Zoho Writer/Sheet from within
Microsoft Word/Excel. We also support “offline” mode in
Zoho Writer so that you can work in your browser even
when you are not connected to the Internet and later synch
up with your online version when you are back online.
Is Zoho available on my mobile device? The short answer
is yes and no. Some of our applications do work on PDA’s
and we have created an iPhone version for Zoho Writer,
Sheet and Show. Zoho Creator also works on some mobile
devices. Stay tuned for more developments for Zoho mobile
support shortly.”
Link: http://zoho.com/
UCET - March 2008 - Page 10
A blog run by Molly McDonald, Screeniac creates video
reviews of popular web 2.0 sites. Most reviews felt that
her work is quite good. Instead of getting a static screen
of instructions about a site, along with a few screenshots,
you get a video walk through. You’ll find several hundred
screencasts on the site.
Link: http://screeniac.com/
ScreenCasts: “ScreenCastsOnline is your one stop shop
for Mac video tutorials to help you get the most out of your
Mac.
With a brand new video tutorial published every week,
ScreenCastsOnline covers many aspects of using your
Mac with tutorials covering OSX, tutorials for switchers
and those new to the Mac, the latest applications, Web 2.0
services and much much more.
You can download free versions of the tutorials directly to
your Mac or PC via iTunes, simply by clicking the buttons
in the side bar or you can just browse the list of available
free shows below or via the category list and view them
directly in your browser.
Don’t forget to check out all the additional benefits of
becoming a ScreenCastsOnline Extra! member and
accessing over 140+ HD tutorials, just by clicking here!
Thanks for visiting ScreenCastsOnline and I hope you
enjoy the shows!”
Link: http://screencastsonline.com/
Bad Web 2.0! Did You Know?
Cyber criminals have been using web 2.0 sites to
promote their poisoned sites on Google. By posting
in many of the blogs and other social networks, they
are able to elevate the ranking of their criminal sites
to the front page of Google. You can search for what
you thought were safe keywords, and be taken to
their sites, which then try to exploit any vulnerabilities
in your browser - and install worms, trojans, key
loggers, and other bad things. Be careful and look
at URLs before clicking on them. Make sure your
computer is patched and up-to-date!
School Leadership Grant Program
$750,000 to help high-need local educational agencies
The School Leadership program is designed to assist highneed local educational agencies (LEAs) in the development,
enhancement, or expansion of innovative programs to recruit,
train, and retain principals (including assistant principals)
through such activities as: giving financial incentives to
aspiring new principals; offering stipends to principals who
mentor new principals; carrying out professional development
programs in instructional leadership and management;
and giving incentives that are appropriate for teachers or
individuals from other fields who want to become principals
and that are effective in retaining new principals.
Link: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20081800/edocket.
access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-4044.htm
Pinnacle Offers Free Video Editing Tool - VideoSpin
VideoSpin is a brand new tool that allows you to create
your own movie clips in minutes using your own videos and
pictures.
With this fully functional video editing software you can:
* Mix videos, photos and music together
* Add titles and transitions
* NEW! Upload to the web in a snap!
* NEW! Direct upload to YouTube and Flash support*
Upload Many Photos at Once to Flickr
* And it’s FREE!
If you’ve tried to upload fifty photos to Flickr, you know that
is a tedious and long process. What if you could upload ten,
twenty, fifty or more files in a few clicks of the mouse. You
can, if you download the Flickr Uploader.
VideoSpin only works with files on your hard drive, so you
can’t import directly from your video camcorder. You won’t be
able to edit audio, except for levels. You can export to AVI,
Flash, Real, or MPEG-1 format.
As a free offering, it’s a tool worth looking into.
Link: http://www.videospin.com/
From their website: “The all new version for Windows and
Mac OS X makes it easy to add titles, tags and descriptions
to photos, add them to sets and adjust each photo’s privacy
settings. Plus, for the first time ever, you can reorder your
photos before uploading by simply dragging them into place!
When you start Uploadr for the first time you’ll have to
authorize it with Flickr (just like the old Uploadr). But, you
don’t have to do this right away. Version 3.0 lets you work
offline while adding and organizing your photos. When you’re
ready, you can click Sign In and you’ll be taken to Flickr to
finish up. When you get back, you’re all set and Uploadr will
remember your account for next time.
Drag your photos into the Uploadr to get started tagging and
describing. When you’ve got everything just so, click the
big Upload button and away they’ll go. Once you start an
upload in version 3.0 you can immediately add more photos
and start to tag and organize them, all while the first batch is
being sent to Flickr. You can continue to upload new batches
like this to your heart’s content!
We hope you enjoy Uploadr 3.0’s new powers. As with all
new things, we’re sure you’ll have an opinion and we’d
love to hear it in the official forum thread for Uploadr 3.0.
Without further ado, there’s more information and downloads
available on our Tools page.”
Link: http://blog.flickr.net/en/2007/12/13/introducing-the-all-newflickr-uploadr-30/
UCET - March 2008 - Page 11
GimpShop - GIMP in Photoshop’s Clothing
GIMP - a free and powerful image editing program can be
frustrating to users of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. It’s
interface takes some getting used to. Well, no longer.
GIMPshop is a modification of the free/open source GNU
Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), intended to replicate
the feel of Adobe Photoshop. Its primary purpose is to make
users of Photoshop feel comfortable using GIMP.
It shares all GIMP’s advantages, including the long feature
list and customisability, while addressing some common
criticisms regarding the program’s interface: GIMPshop
modifies the menu structure to closely match Photoshop’s,
adjusts the program’s terminology to match Adobe’s, and,
in the Windows version, uses a plugin called ‘Deweirdifier’
to combine the application’s numerous windows in a similar
manner to the MDI system used by most Windows graphics
packages. While GIMPshop does not support Photoshop
plugins, all GIMP’s own plugins, filters, brushes, etc. remain
available.
Due to the changes to the interface, many Photoshop
tutorials can be followed in GIMPshop unchanged, and most
others can be adapted for GIMPshop users with minimal
effort.
Link: http://www.gimpshop.com/
A Free, Portable Word Processor
From their website: Jarte is “...1. A free word processor
based on the Microsoft WordPad word processing engine
built into Windows. 2. A fast starting, easy to use word
processor that expands well beyond the WordPad feature
set. 3. A small, portable word processor whose documents
are fully compatible with Word and WordPad...
...Does Your Word Processor Handle Like an Ocean Liner?
Titanic. When word processors replaced typewriters they
helped free the creative expressions innate in all of us. But
somewhere along the way word processors evolved into
enormous machines designed primarily to serve the needs
of the corporate world. Office word processors have become
huge, cumbersome vessels of software that remind us of
ocean liners. The seeming goal of both is to become as large
as possible by including every imaginable feature, whether
anyone actually needs all those features or not. That’s fine
for an ocean liner since you are there to relax and marvel at
its grandness. However, it is not so fine when the size and
complexity of your word processor makes it as cumbersome
to operate as an ocean liner in a yacht race.
It does not have to be like that. Jarte is a WordPad based,
FREE word processor whose unique interface will make you
feel like you are piloting a swift, nimble yacht by comparison.
Although Jarte doesn’t look anything like the office word
processor you are used to, it can handle your word
processing tasks with aplomb. If this sounds like the kind of
word processor you are looking for then maybe you owe it to
yourself to give Jarte a try.
Writing Should Be a Pleasurable Experience
The problem with word processors designed for the corporate
world is they tend to sap the joy out of writing. Office word
processors have so many features it becomes frustrating
trying to find the features you actually need among the
UCET - March 2008 - Page 12
seemingly endless excess of unused functions. You either
lose your train of thought while wrestling with the program
or you simply do without the feature you want rather than
embark on an expedition to find it among the endless
cascading menus and pop-up windows.
The Jarte word processor relieves that problem by including
only the features likely to be needed by real people. Jarte
is designed for students, writers, small business people,
and home users. But what really makes Jarte special is the
unique way it makes the features that are included easily
accessible.
You expect a word processor to be able to handle Word
documents, font and paragraph formatting, spell checking,
print preview, and more. While Jarte performs all the
standard functions well, the most important aspect of Jarte
is the numerous small details that make it an efficient and
enjoyable tool for creating documents. Small details like:
Tabbed document windows for easy access to your open
documents
• Larger buttons for the most commonly used functions
• Instant dictionary and thesaurus word lookup (integrates
with free WordWeb)
• Spell check and text search tools that do not park
themselves on top of the text you are trying to edit
• Single click bookmarking that make bookmarks both
useful and usable
• Instant access to the documents and folders you
designate as your favorites
• Instant access to the fonts you designate as your
favorites
• Use of the mouse scroll wheel button to copy and paste
text
It is Jarte’s thoughtful details that will leave you wondering
how you lived with that cumbersome office word processor
for so long.
•
Stable WordPad Editing Engine
At the heart of Jarte sits the same word processing engine
used by Windows’ WordPad. The difference is that Jarte
builds far more capability around the WordPad editing engine
than the WordPad program itself does. The significance of
this fact is that Jarte users are secure in the knowledge that
Jarte is making use of the same reliable, time tested editing
engine used by millions of other Windows users all over the
world. If you have tried other alternative word processors and
found them to be unstable that may be in part due to their
use of unreliable, home grown editing engines.
Microsoft is continually upgrading the WordPad editing
engine, although you would never know it by examining
WordPad. The WordPad program itself has not changed
since it was first introduced. Jarte, on the other hand,
continues to evolve and take advantage of useful features as
Microsoft adds them to the WordPad editing engine.
Jarte is a Free Word Processor? Yes, Jarte is completely
free. There are no ads, no trial period, no nag screens, and
no crippling of essential features. We do sell a separate
edition of Jarte called Jarte Plus for those who want more.
Many of Jarte’s regular users have been more than willing to
pay the small price for the extra bells and whistles provided
by Jarte Plus.” Link: http://www.jarte.com/
www.ucet.org
The Kindle - Amazon’s e-Reader with Wireless Delivery
Perhaps we’re seeing the true beginning of the electronic book.
Amazon.com’s Kindle uses a different screen technology. Utilizing
a new high-resolution display technology called electronic paper,
Kindle provides a crisp black-and-white screen that resembles the
appearance and readability of printed paper. The screen works
using ink, just like books and newspapers, but displays the ink particles electronically. It reflects light like ordinary paper and uses no
backlighting, eliminating the glare associated with other electronic
displays. As a result, Kindle can be read as easily in bright sunlight
as in your living room.The screen never gets hot so you can comfortably read as long as you like. James Patterson, author of You’ve
Been Warned, said, “The screen is fabulous. You would expect that,
with a screen, there would be a glare, it would be hard to read but
it’s not. There’s no glare. It’s not backlit, which is kind of magical.
I think people are going to be very, very surprised and delighted.
This is a lot easier to read than a lot of books are these days.”
Amazon incorporates wireless into the Kindle. You can order any of
110,000 books, newspapers, and magazines directly from Amazon
from the Kindle. Called WhisperNet, the wireless uses Sprint’s national high speed (EVDO) data network to enable you to
wirelessly search, discover, download, or read content on
the go. Amazon pays for the service, so you never receive
a wireless billing.
Amazon wanted Kindle to be as easy to hold and use as a
book, so they designed it with long-form reading in mind.
When reading for long periods of time, people naturally
shift positions often. Kindle’s full-length, vertical pageturning buttons are located on either
side, allowing you to read and turn pages
comfortably from any position. Navigation on both sides means both “lefties”
and “righties” can easily use Kindle with
one hand. And at only 10.3 ounces, Kindle
is lighter and thinner than a typical paperback.
A copy of every book you purchase is
backed up online in Your Media Library in
case you ever need to download it again.
This allows you to make room for new
titles on your device, knowing that Amazon is storing your personal library, which
can always be re-downloaded wirelessly.
If you are out of wireless coverage, such
as traveling overseas, you can download
books to your computer from Your Media
Page 1
Member Newsletter for April 2008
Library and transfer via USB to your Kindle. Think of it as a bookshelf in your attic—even though you don’t see it, you know your
books are there.
This will be an eReader to watch. Although not perfected yet, If
you’d like to learn more about this new technology, visit
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FI73MA/ref=amb_link_6369712_2?pf_rd_
m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1QRRG813AXYKFJ6DXXWB&pf_rd_t=101&pf_
rd_p=379103301&pf_rd_
i=507846
There are several videos about the Kindle
that you can watch,
including an interview
with Charlie Rose.
If you want one of
these, you may have
to wait. Demand is
greater than supply at
the moment.
Floods & Flows: Exploring Mars Geology on Earth - A
Field-Based Workshop for Science Teachers
From the website (http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/fieldtrips/2008/floods20081st.
shtml): “WHAT? Floods and Flows: Exploring Mars Geology on Earth, a
NASA-sponsored field-based workshop for science educators, will
be held July 13–19, 2008. Join us for hands-on, real-world experience to enhance your teaching about Earth and space science —
and the connections between these exciting fields of research.
We will visit the site of Ancient Glacial Lake Missoula and trace the
path of its flood waters through Montana, Idaho, and into Washington. Along the way we will examine the geologic evidence for
catastrophic flooding, as well as for past volcanism in this region. In
the classroom you will tie your field experiences to the geology of
Mars (and other planets) through interactions with planetary scientists. We will share hands-on, standards-based classroom activities
for your students.
From these field experiences and accompanying classroom activities, we will build an understanding of surface processes on Earth,
including water flow, volcanism, glaciation, and sedimentation. We
will extend this understanding to interpret features on the surface
of Mars and what they indicate about past environments on the
red planet.
Our field/classroom format will give you the personal experience
and the knowledge base to teach about Mars and other planets in
new, effective ways.
FOR WHOM? Primarily for middle school teachers. Others are welcome, including pre-service teachers, informal educators, education specialists, early college instructors, and junior college instructors.
WHY? Experience the science firsthand! Gain insights into how science works — and how you can engage your students in exploration. Investigate science content with the scientists, including Dr.
Walter Kiefer, from the Lunar and Planetary Institute. Invigorate
your classroom curriculum! Participants from previous workshops
have been enthusiastic about the workshop and materials. Most
teachers report that their curriculum is energized with new ideas,
activities, materials, and images.
Receive 60 hours of professional development credit AND buckets
of useful classroom resources, including hands-on inquiry-based
lesson plans, readings, NASA materials, and all the presentations!
WHERE AND WHEN? Floods and Flows: Exploring Mars Geology on
Earth will be based at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana. Our tentative agenda follows.
•Sunday, July 13 — 6:00 p.m. “Icebreaker” with introductions
and overview (stay at University of Montana – Missoula)
•Monday, July 14 — Glacial Lake Missoula field sites (stay at University of Montana – Missoula)
•Tuesday, July 15 — Central Washington field sites
•Wednesday, July 16 — Central Washington field sites
•Thursday, July 17 — Central Washington field sites (return to
University of Montana – Missoula)
•Friday, July 18 and Saturday, July 19 — Revisit field work,
create web-based field descriptions, undertake hands-on
classroom activities, and draw connections between geologic
Page 2
features, processes, and history of Earth
and Mars. Learn more about current
and future exploration of Mars (stay at
University of Montana – Missoula).
•Sunday, July 20 — Depart
Note: Field studies will include short hikes,
some with moderately steep pitches. The
weather will likely be very hot and sunny.
Participants must be in good physical condition and must be prepared to participate
in all activities under these conditions.
HOW? Use the electronic application form
to apply for Floods and Flows: Exploring
Mars Geology on Earth. Registration is
limited to 35 participants. Applications are
due on April 7, 2008 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific
Standard Time (see timezone map). Participants will be notified of their acceptance
by April 15, 2008. (Application at https://www.
lpi.usra.edu/education/fieldtrips/emge2008/index.cfm)
A $100.00 deposit is due at the time of application. The credit card will be charged at
the time of application; however, applicants who are not selected will be reimbursed for the deposit. The deposit will
NOT be returned to accepted applicants
and will be put toward the registration fee.
Payment of the registration fee is due by
May 1, 2008. The registration fee is $600.00
in addition to the $100.00 deposit; the entire registration fee is $700.00 ($850.00 for
single occupancy). Registration includes
transportation during the workshop, lodging (double occupancy), breakfast and
lunch, dinner while at the university, and
classroom materials.
Participants are responsible for travel to and from the workshop
and for snacks and dinner while in the field. Assistance in funding participation can be sought from school districts, professional
development organizations, state science teacher associations,
local private corporations, and NASA’s Space Grant Consortium in
your region.
A limited number of registration awards are available through the
Lunar and Planetary Institute. These awards will be based on the
combined merit of the dissemination plan described in the application and financial need. Attendees of previous workshops also are
eligible for a small number of awards, but they must demonstrate
how they have implemented their workshop experiences in the
classroom and disseminated the information to their colleagues.
CONTACT INFORMATION: For further information regarding the field trip,
please contact:
Ms. Becky Nelson, Lunar and Planetary Institute
3600 Bay Area Boulevard, Houston TX 77058-1113
Phone: 281-486-2166
E-mail: [email protected]
IBM’s New Online Multiplayer Game Teaches Students About Energy, Global Warming, and Engineering
From the website: “Teachers, do you dream of a learning resource that will grab your students’ attention and engage them as thoroughly
as the video games they play at home and on their mobile phones? Are you looking for a classroom resource that will motivate your students to apply science and math concepts to real world problems? Would you like to spark your students interest in pursuing a career in
Science or Engineering?
Enter the world of PowerUp, a free, online, multiplayer game that allows students to experience the excitement and the diversity of modern engineering! Playing the game, students work together in teams to investigate the rich, 3D game environment and learn about the
environmental disasters that threaten the game world and its inhabitants.
Players meet Expert Engineer characters and experience the great diversity of the field. Conversations with these experts and engaging
interactive activities allow players to explore ways engineers design and build systems to harness renewable energy sources as alternatives
to burning fossil fuels. Players take on the role of Engineers, working together designing and building energy solutions to save the world.
The Teacher’s Guide is designed to be a classroom companion to PowerUp, providing background information for teachers and lesson
plans that give students opportunities for more in-depth exploration of science and engineering concepts addressed in gameplay. Each of
these lessons is designed to be flexible and scalable. Feel free to use the lessons and activities as raw materials and break them up, combine parts, skip parts and extend lessons with your own content. Extension activities and resources for more information are suggested.
This flexibility will allow you to best adapt the lessons to your students’ needs.” Link: http://www.powerupthegame.org/home.html
Page 3
MyAwardMaker - A Free Site for Creating That Special Recognition Certificate
As a teacher, you often want to give recognition to students who excel in some aspect of
their growth. However, finding just the right
certificate can be hard. The folks at MyAwardMker.com ran into that same problem.
From their website: “It was a dusky evening in
Fort Lauderdale. My friend and I sat, our faces
illuminated by the glow of her computer, our
eyes dry and tired.
Our mission – to find the perfect certificate
that she could present to students who had
just completed her course in wellness and
nutrition.
After having browsed the web for what
seemed like an eternity, we gave up in frustration and decided to create our own. The final
certificate, replete with a pretty dragon fly,
looked so cute we couldn’t wait to create
more.
And that, as they say…was the beginning!
PS – Why Free? People ask why My Award
Maker is free. It’s quite simple really. We love
good design. We think good design should
be, like air and water, “FAE” - Freely Available
Everywhere!”
The site templates fall into four categories:
education, special occasions, business, and
blank templates. As you go into each section
of thumbnail views, hovering over any thumbnail view will provide you a larger view of that
certificate - a nice feature that allows you to
quickly make a decision as to which template
to use.
To use a certificate, click the download link
located below each certificate and save it
to a preferred folder on your computer. The
templates require Adobe Reader 8.0. If you are
unable to open the certificate please check
to make sure you have the latest version. You
can use Adobe Reader to type in your recipient’s name. Just click the ‘Name’ field to begin
filling out the form.
You can also just hit print and write it in – remember to use your best handwriting or ask a
friend who’s taken a course in calligraphy!
Be sure to use a good quality paper, and go
into the print settings and print at your printer’s best quality. I think you’ll enjoy this site.
Link: http://www.myawardmaker.com
Page 4
The Body Explained - Videos On Interesting Questions About the Human Body
BioEdOnline from the Baylor College of Medicine has been producing high-quality educational resources for a number of years, so it’s nice
to learn about their rather fun and informative “The Body Explained” resource. (The Scout Report)
From the website: “The Body Explained, with Cassius Bordelon, PhD, is a light-hearted video production that answers common questions
about how the human body works. Segments generally run one minute and are designed to help capture students’ attention and curiosity.
Dr. Bordelon is an Associate Professor of Cell Biology at Baylor College of Medicine and an expert on anatomy.
Note: The MPG versions of TV Healthline are suitable for creating Video CDs.”
Link: http://www.bioedonline.org/body-explained/
Page 5
Explore Earth’s History with the National Geographic Interactive Prehistoric Timeline!
From their website: “Humans have walked the Earth
for 190,000 years, a mere blip in Earth’s 4.5-billion-year
history. A lot has happened in that time. Earth formed
and oxygen levels rose in the foundational years of the
Precambrian. The productive Paleozoic era gave rise to
hard-shelled organisms, vertebrates, amphibians, and
reptiles. Dinosaurs ruled the Earth in the mighty Mesozoic. And 64 million years after dinosaurs went extinct,
modern humans emerged in the Cenozoic era. The
planet has seen an incredible series of changes—discover them for yourself.”
National Geographic is
known for the quality of its
research, printed materials, and visuals. This site is
no exception. As you scroll
through time on the Prehistoric Timeline, you can click
any item and pull up a larger
image, with more information and links to related
content, including great image galleries that will allow
you to download the images
as desktop wallpapers (see
example below.) The site is a wonderful place to explore and learn!
Link: http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/prehistoric-time-line.html
Page 6
Plasq.com’s Comic Life - A Creative Writing Tool
Have you ever wanted to create your own comic book?
Most of us have at some time, I think. Plasq.com’s
Comic Life makes it easy to do. And it’s certainly a fun
way to get those creative juices flowing.
You begin by choosing your layout. Comic Life has
many preset layouts you can choose from, or you can
create your own. Next, you drag photos from your
iPhoto library to any pane and drop it. You can resize
and rotate the image so it fits in the pane just the way
you want it. You also can choose graphics from any
folder on your computer. And you can capture an image from your built-in camera.
Once you have your panes populated with graphics,
you add the text elements. Comic life’s built in font looks just like the Marvel comic text you poured over as a
child. However, you can choose any font you wish. For every object you place on your comic page, there is a
set of attributes that you can mess around with. For example, if you click on a graphic, you can flip it vertically
or horizontally. You can tell it to maintain its aspect ratio when you resize it, or you can turn it off and stretch
things a little. You can apply a number of built in color effects, such as “the Aliens are Coming,” and others that
simulate some of the special drawing effects you see in comic books. You can add frames or shadows, and
more.
Comic Life might be just the tool to get those “hard to inspire” students to do some creative writing. It would
also be a good way to introduce pre-writing skills such as concept mapping, storyboarding, etc. Give them a
camera to use, set them loose on the world, and watch out! You may be pleasantly surprised at the results.
Link: http://plasq.com
Page 7
Free Spelling Lists from
All About Spelling
Link: http://www.all-about-spelling.com/freespelling-lists.html
All About Spelling sells spelling
products, such as spelling books,
phonograms, letter tiles, spelling games, and more. They also
have a section of helpful articles
about spelling that fall into several
categories: Teaching Strategies,
Approaches to Teaching Spelling,
Phonemic Awareness, Syllables,
Vowels, and Other Spelling Topics,
and Homeschool Spelling. As a
courtesy to teachers, they have a
page of free spelling lists, grades
1-7. As an added bonus, you’ll
find The Ayres Spelling Scale,
which was originally published in
1915 by Leonard Porter Ayres. It
contains the 1000 most frequently
used words. You’ll also be able to
access the Dolch Word List, which
contains the 220 most frequently
used words.
The Public Education Job Enhancement Program
The Public Education Job Enhancement Program, enacted under Utah Code Annotated 53a-1a-601, 602, passed through House Bill 188
during the 2005 General Legislative Session. The program was established to attract, train, and retain, teachers in Special Education
(PreK-12) and secondary school educators (7-12) in math, physics, chemistry, physical science, information technology, and learning technology. Link: http://www.schools.utah.gov/cert/PEJEP/default.htm
The award programs are: Advancement Awards (Scholarships) and Opportunity Awards (Signing Bonuses).
Please note: Teachers cannot receive both the Opportunity Award (Signing Bonus) and Advancement Awards (Scholarships) at the same
time or within the four year teaching commitment time.
Advancement Award (Scholarship) Advancement Awards are scholarships to encourage teachers in secondary schools (7-12) to earn additional
education leading to endorsements, degrees and/or advanced degrees in math, physics, chemistry, physical science, information technology, learning technology, and special education (PreK-12).
NEW Advancement Award Scholarships 4, 5, & 6 Grade Educators The award is a scholarship to encourage educators currently teaching grades 4, 5, or
6 in elementary and/or middle schools in special education PreK-12 or math, chemistry, physics, physical science, information technology,
and learning technology, to earn an endorsement in Math.
Opportunity Award (Signing Bonus) Opportunity Awards are given by districts to newly hired teachers or teachers who have been in an ARL
program for one year and teaching in the following secondary (7-12) subject areas: math, physics, chemistry, physical science, information
technology, and learning technology. The award is also given to special education teachers (PreK-12). Teachers must be recommended by a
school principal, school district superintendent, or designee.
If you have questions about this program contact:
Clara Walters, USOE–Educator Quality & Licensing
250 East 500 South, PO Box 144200
SLC UT, 84114-4200
Tel: (801) 538-7616
Fax: (801) 538-7973
[email protected]
Page 8
NASA Earth Day Photo Contest for Grades 5-8
Get Your Gummy Greenhouse Gases!
The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies is sponsoring an
Earth Day photo contest for middle school students. Interested students are asked to photograph something that is changing in their
local environment. They are to take the photo between Tuesday,
April 22, and Tuesday, April 29. The change could be occurring in
the student’s backyard, outside the student’s school, in a local park
or even off in the distance. Participants must research and write an
explanation of the change documented in the photograph.
Making science edible and sweet is a reliable way to attracts kids’
interest. The new “Gummy Greenhouse Gases” activity on The
Space Place web site makes it fun and easy to learn a bit of chemistry and to find out why too many of these kinds of molecules in the
air are likely to cause Earth to get warmer.
The contest is open to all U.S. students in grades 5-8.
Entries must be received by e-mail or postmarked by May 9, 2008.
At http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/tes/gumdrops, kids use gumdrops and
toothpicks to make simple molecules of ozone, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane.
The curious can go on to http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/tes/gases
http://www.strategies.org/EarthDayPhoto
to learn more about the greenhouse effect and about the “good
and bad” roles of ozone. A short video shows how new space technology can literally paint a 3-D picture of these gases all around the
globe. Afterwards, the ghastly gases can be consumed (mind the
toothpicks!), thus helping the environment.
If you have questions about the contest, please e-mail your inquiries to [email protected].
Apply Now for the 2008 Thacher Scholars Awards
For more information about the contest and how teachers can use
it in the classroom, visit
2008 MY NASA DATA Teacher Workshop
The 2008 MY NASA DATA Teacher Workshop will take place at
NASA’s Langley Research Center on June 22-27. This workshop will
include hands-on sessions designed for educators of students in
grades 6-12. The workshop will focus on the implementation and
use of Earth system science data sets developed for the pre-college
education community as part of the MY NASA DATA program.
The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies is currently accepting entries for the 2008 Thacher Scholars Awards. The awards
will be given to students in grades 9-12 who demonstrate the
best use of geospatial technologies or data to study Earth. Eligible
geospatial tools and data include satellite remote sensing, aerial
photography, geographic information systems and the Global
Positioning System. The main focus of the project must be on the
application of the geospatial tool(s) or data to study a problem
related to Earth’s environment.
Participating teachers will explore topics in Earth system science
(especially atmospheric science), educational application of data
sets, and hands-on classroom activities. Participants will take
informative field trips and benefit from the expertise of nationally
recognized atmospheric researchers. The teachers will also explore
how data sets can be used to enhance their curriculum and how
students can use this data for inquiry-based learning and research.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens currently in grades 9-12. Students
in public, private, parochial, Native American reservation and
home schools are eligible. Entries can be submitted by individuals
or teams. Cash awards will be given to students in the top three
places. Awards will also be given to the winning students’ teachers.
Applications must be postmarked by April 9, 2008. For more information, visit
For more information, visit
Entries must be postmarked by April 4, 2008. Entries may also be
submitted electronically.
http://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov/workshop.html
http://www.strategies.org/education/index.aspx?sub=education&sub2=scholars&sub3=scholar
s2008
Please e-mail questions about this opportunity to Susan Moore at
[email protected]
Please e-mail any questions about this opportunity to
[email protected].
The Earth Science Teacher Magazine
School Leadership Grant Program
As we celebrate the International Polar Year (February’s Theme),
UCAR has made the latest “The Earth Science Teacher” magazine
available to public educators as a PDF. This magazine includes
articles on NASA International Polar Year science and education.
We are hoping to have hardcopies of this publication available for
you in one of our next NASA Educator Resource Center Network
shipments. In the meantime, feel free to download the magazine
at the following links...
Link: http://www.nestanet.org/
Link: http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlnasa/pdf/Winter08TES.pdf
$750,000 to help high-need local educational agencies
The School Leadership program is designed to assist high-need local educational agencies (LEAs) in the development, enhancement,
or expansion of innovative programs to recruit, train, and retain
principals (including assistant principals) through such activities
as: giving financial incentives to aspiring new principals; offering
stipends to principals who mentor new principals; carrying out
professional development programs in instructional leadership and
management; and giving incentives that are appropriate for teachers or individuals from other fields who want to become principals
and that are effective in retaining new principals. (eSchool News)
Link: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20081800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/
E8-4044.htm
Page 9
Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and
Science Teaching
The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science
Teaching are the nation’s highest honors for teachers of mathematics and science. The awards recognize highly qualified K-12 teachers for their contributions in the classroom and to their profession.
31, 2008. Depending upon funding availability, additional tuition
subsidies may be awarded after March 21, 2008.
For more information and the online application, visit
http://teachscience.psu.edu
If you have questions about this opportunity, please e-mail Leah
Bug at [email protected].
Since 1983, more than 3,700 outstanding teachers have been
recognized for their contributions to mathematics and science
education. If you know great teachers, nominate them to join this
prestigious network of professionals.
Educator Conference: Ocean Surface Topography Mission/
Jason-2 Satellite Launch
Nominations for elementary school teachers are being accepted
online and should be submitted as soon as possible. Teachers who
are nominated must complete an online application. Applications
are due May 1, 2008.
The Endeavour Center, NASA Educator Resource Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, located in central California, will host an educator conference on June 14-15, 2008. This conference will coincide
with the launch of the Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason-2
satellite launch on June 15, 2008.
(Secondary school teachers are eligible to apply in 2009.)
For additional information on the award and to nominate an outstanding teacher, visit
http://www.paemst.org/controllers/home.cfc?method=view
If you have questions about this opportunity, please contact your
state coordinator. To find your state coordinator, visit
http://www.paemst.org/controllers/coordinator.cfc?method=findcoordinator.
The satellite will provide global ocean surface topography, circulation and tide models. This information is critical in the study of
global weather because ocean temperatures and circulation drive
many Earth weather cycles.
Registration and application information will be e-mailed to interested K-12 teachers. Teachers wishing to be added to the e-mail list
should contact Moksha Badarayan, Endeavour Center, Director at
[email protected].
For more information about this conference, visit
Penn State Science Workshops for Educators
The Penn State Science Workshops for Educators offer innovative
ways to teach science in the classroom, information on the latest
science research, content-rich subject material and standardsbased activities. Educators of grades 6-12 from across the country
are encouraged to apply. Attendees will work side by side with
Penn State faculty; many of whom are involved with NASA sponsored research.
Grants provide all participants with a private room in the newly
built Brill Hall, reimbursements for travel costs up to $100, breakfast in the dining commons, and an allotment for lunches and
dinners. Tuition subsidies are available for all of the workshops on
a competitive basis. Tuition subsidies will be awarded on March 21,
2008; however, depending upon funding availability, additional
tuition subsidies may be provided after March 21, 2008.
The 2008 Workshops include:
•Exploring Renewable Energy Technologies and the Materials
That Make It Happen (NEW).
•Earth’s History: Interaction Between Life and the Environment
(NEW).
•Extreme Particle Astrophysics.
•Evolution -- How important is it to a good science education?
•Telescopes: The Tools of Astronomical Inquiry (NEW).
•Black Holes: Gravity’s Fatal Attraction (NEW).
The tuition subsidies are need-based and assessed on a first-come,
first-served basis. Notification of tuition subsidies will be sent on
March 21, 2008; however, applications may be submitted until May
Page 10
http://www.endeavours.org/sec/
Educational Video Clips Online from NASA
The educational video clips listed below have been added to the
Videos section of the NASA Educational Materials site. Click on the
link below each list of video clips to access the videos online.
Designed for students in grades 5-12, these video clips from the
Universe DVD let the viewer travel billions of years through time. The
viewer watches the universe evolve from one primordial mass into
the stars and galaxies seen today. These videos are narrated by William Shatner.
Titles in this series:
•Scientists Use Observatories to Learn About the Sun
•The Planets
•A Look Beyond the Planets: Nebulae, Stars, Quasars and Galaxies
•Lifecycle of a Star
•The Evolving Universe
•Is There Life Out There?: NASA’s Search Continues
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/The_Planets.html
Targeting students in grades 5-12, the Liftoff to Learning: Plants in Space
video clip series follows a group of students at an elementary school
as they participate in an experiment on plant growth with space
shuttle astronauts. Identical seed growth pouches are planted
with corn and soybean seeds. Some of the seeds are germinated
on Earth and others on the space shuttle in Earth orbit. Rather
than drawing conclusions on the effects of microgravity on plant
growth, viewers are invited to participate in the experiment by
growing seeds on Earth as control experiments.
Titles in this series:
•How Plants Grow in Space: The Effects of Gravity and Light
•Tropisms of Plants in Space and on Earth
•Why Scientists Study Plants in Space
•Evaluating Experimental Treatment: Controls of Plants Growing
in Space
•Discussion Points About Growing Plants in Space
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/How_Plants_Grow_in_
Space.html
The video clips in the NASA’s Destination Tomorrow™: Bringing the Future
into Focus series are designed for educators, parents, and students
in 9-12 and college. These clips build on the premise that much of
NASA’s aeronautical research focuses on increasing today’s knowledge to solve tomorrow’s problems.
Titles in this series:
•Helios, NASA’s Unmanned, Remotely Powered Flying Wing
•The Smart Probe, an Early Cancer Detection Tool
•A Retrospective Look at the Gemini Program
•Alleviating Aircraft Noise: The Quiet Aircraft Technology Program
•Spacesuits and How They Work
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/A_Retrospective_Look.
html
Adobe School Innovation Awards
Adobe believes that engaging learning experiences are the foundation of a great education. By working with technology as part
of project-based curricula or in vocational tracks preparing them
for the future, students more easily develop the essential, lifelong
digital communication skills they will need in virtually all their
academic and professional pursuits.
To honor the hard work of students everywhere, Adobe is pleased
to announce the opening of the 2008 Adobe School Innovation
Awards competition. High school students in accredited private
and public schools in the United States and Canada (except Quebec) can submit their innovative and creative projects and can win
exciting prizes, including a trip to the annual National Education
Computing Conference (NECC) in San Antonio, Texas, at the end of
June 2008.
With the theme My Community — My Planet — My 21st Century,
high school students in grades 9–12 (ages 14–19) can submit entries in three categories: Web Design and Development, Film and
Video, and Graphic and Print Design. Category award winners as
well as one grand prize winner for best overall submission will be
chosen.
Submitted projects, dealing with students’ community, the world
around them, and their own future, should showcase the most
creative and innovative use of technology using Adobe products.
The deadline for submissions is May 12, 2008. Winners will be announced at NECC in San Antonio, Texas.
Link: http://www.adobe.com/education/solutions/k12/awards/index.html
Rich Franzen’s Interactive Color Wheel (JAVA)
Are you teaching the color wheel, and the related concepts that
accompany it? Here’s an interactive online color wheel. With it you
can learn about hue, saturation, luminance, and more.
Link: http://r0k.us/graphics/SIHwheel.html
Page 11
21st Century Musical Instrument
Media artist Toshio Iwai and Yamaha have collaborated to design a new digital musical instrument
for the 21st century, TENORI-ON. A 16x16 matrix of
LED switches allows everyone to play music intuitively, creating a “visible music” interface.
The TENORI-ON 16 x 16 LED button matrix is
simultaneously a performance input controller
and display. By operating and interacting with the
LED buttons and the light they produce you gain
access to the TENORI-ON’s numerous performance
capabilities.
The TENORI-ON provides six different performance
and sound/light modes for broad performance
versatility, and these modes can be combined and
used simultaneously for rich, complex musical
expression.
PC World featured the Tenori-on as one of its picks
of today’s most innovative products. (PC World,
February, 2008, p. 97) Of the Tenori-On, it said that
it was an “...inspired and intuitive handheld instrument [that] redefines music-making. Nothing else
even comes close to Japanese media artist Toshio
Iwai’s digital instrument.”
“While the Tenori-On is likely to appeal to a fairly
specialized audience, the device screams innovation. Consisting of a 16x16 grid of LED-illuminted
buttons that a user touches to manipulate sound
in a variety of intuitive and eye-catching ways, the
Tenori-On - desiged by the creator of the cult-hit
Nintendo DS music game Electroplankton - is
like nothing you’ve ever seen. It has 256 built in
sounds, and an integrated SD Card slot lets you
copy original samples from your computer. You
can also use its MIDI-out port to connect with your
PC’s music software or you other hardware instruments.”
Iwai’s intention in creating the Tenori-on is to create an electronic instrument of beauty. In his own
words:
“In days gone by, a musical instrument had to have
a beauty, of shape as well as of sound, and had
to fit the player almost organically. [...] Modern
electronic instruments don’t have this inevitable
relationship between the shape, the sound, and
the player. What I have done is to try to bring back
these [...] elements and build them in to a true musical instrument for the digital age.” (Wikipedia)
Link: http://www.global.yamaha.com/design/tenori-on/
You may want to watch an online demonstrations
of the Tenori-On...
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SGwDhKTrwU
Page 12
www.ucet.org
Welcome to the UCET Newsletter for May!
Can you believe how fast the year flies by? It’s May! The last month
of school, and you’re looking ahead to summer plans, and hopefully some vacation time. Things slow down a little and you have time
to catch your breath, time to try some new things, and prepare
for the coming school year. Have you been wanting to learn that
desktop publishing program? Or how to create and edit videos on
your computer? Or do a podcast? A blog? Well, here’s wishing you
success in your endeavors!
In this month’s newsletter, we’ll focus on desktop publishing. There
are many desktop publishing programs, but Adobe’s InDesign
is one of the most widely used professional desktop publishing
applications available. We’ll show you the basics of setting up a
document, placing graphics, using text, adding page numbers, and
more! We’ll also share some great desktop publishing resources
with you. Did you know that the UCET newsletter is created using
InDesign and exported as an Acrobat PDF file?
Also, you’ll find the usual links to great educational resources.
Read on!
Online Videos at UCET.org!
You’ll want to visit the UCET website often over the next few
months! Each week, we are adding two of the UCET 2008 Overthe-Shoulder presentations so you can view or download them for
future reference.
Link: http://www.ucet.org/inUCETnew/conference/#OTS
However, here’s a heads-up. Later this summer, we’ll be moving
all the UCET 2008 materials to the Archives section of the website. Then, our conference section will begin to focus on the 2009
conference. Just remember that you can access all the previous
conference information, programs, videos, vendor lists, presentation handouts, etc., in the Archives section of UCET’s website.
Link: http://www.ucet.org/inUCETnew/archives/
Page 1
Member Newsletter for May 2008
Getting Started with InDesign
Adobe InDesign is a very powerful publishing application. In fact,
many of the of books, magazines, pamphlets, brochures, PDF files,
and fliers you read every day were created and published using
InDesign. InDesign is part of the Adobe Creative Suite 3 suite of
applications that include Acrobat, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash,
Illustrator, and more. If you don’t have access to these applications,
you can download a trial version from the Adobe website...
Link: http://www.adobe.com/products/InDesign/?promoid=BPDEI
Also, you’ll find links to video tutorials, a tour of the product, other
downloads related to InDesign there.
When you open InDesign, you’ll see a layout similar to that in the
illustration above. At the left is the toolbar. As you select a tool by
clicking on it, an options bar for that tool appears just under the
menus at the top of the screen. Above, I have the selection tool
selected, and you see the common tasks and options I can do with
that tool in the options bar at the top of the screen.
On the right side of the screen, you see InDesign’s palettes (collapsed so they take up little screen real estate). Clicking on any palette will expand it. For example, in the illustration to the right, I’ve
clicked on the Pages palette. It expanded to show me the pages
in my document, which has twelve pages. Double click any of the
page thumbnails to go to that page. Drag a page to the trash icon
at the bottom of the palette to delete it. Add a new page after the
currently selected page in the palette by clicking on the ‘Create
Page 2
New Page’ icon. Duplicate a page by dragging its thumbnail icon
on top of the ‘Create New Page’ icon. (That’s the icon of a page
with its corner turned up.) Above the page thumbnails there’s a dividing line, above which you’ll see the master page icons. Remember this, we’ll be talking about master pages later on.
In the center of the screen, you see the work area, or pasteboard.
The Pasteboard includes your page layout, plus room around the
outside to store objects that you may want to add onto the page
later. It is an intuitive, clean layout that corresponds closely to the
layout of other Adobe applications.
Preliminary Preparations Before Beginning an InDesign
Project.
Transform, Control, and other palettes.” (http://www.InDesignsecrets.com/
When you start any InDesign project, you should first create a new
folder on your hard drive and give it a name. All resources you
are going to include in your InDesign document should be saved
to this folder, including any graphics and multimedia files. This
should be done before you actually insert any of these into your
InDesign project. Here’s why...
In order to save room in the InDesign file itself, InDesign creates a
‘preview’ of any graphic or multimedia file you place in the document - a low resolution placeholder instead of the real graphic.
Imagine, if you will, that you have a 24 page document with a
photo on each page. High resolution color photos typically are 20
megabytes in size (or higher!). WIth 24 such photos, your InDesign
document would end up being a huge, unwieldy file if it saved
these photos as part of the file itself. To get around this, and make
InDesign more responsive to work with, low resolution previews
are placed instead. This allows you to visually view the layout
you’re creating, but at the same time keeps things from bogging
down in bloat.
When you actually create your new InDesign file for your project,
that file should be saved into the folder you’ve created as well.
Then if you have to move your project (say, to another computer),
you just move the entire folder and its contents. You’ll also want to
make sure that other computer has the same fonts installed that
you used in your project. If you’re missing anything, InDesign will
tell you. The Links palette will help you reconnect things if you
need to.
Create a New File in InDesign
By default, InDesign uses points or picas to measure things on a
page. These are common measurement systems for printers and
publishers - but confusing to most of us who are used to the good
old English measurement system of inches. A pica is a typesetting
unit of measurement commonly used for measuring lines of type.
One pica equals 12 points. There are 6 picas to an inch. Also used
to describe a typewriter type that prints 10 characters per inch
(cpi). It takes 72 points to make an inch. You’ve worked with points
before - every time you change a font size. Fonts are measured in
points.
You usually change the measurement system by going into the
preferences - units and increments - and change it to inches. You
can also right-click on the ruler in InDesign and choose inches to
display on the ruler.
“What you may not know is that you can also change the global
measurement system on the fly without ever going into the Units &
Increments pane of Preferences.
It’s a keyboard shortcut—four-fingered, true, but still typically faster than the Preferences route. On Mac, press CMD+OPT+SHIFT+U,
and on Windows, CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+U, to cycle through the available measurement systems, in the order of the Units & Increments
Ruler Units menus—Points, Picas, Inches, Inches Decimal, Millimeters, Centimeters, Ciceros, and Custom (measured in points). Each
press of the keyboard shortcut will change both the horizontal
and vertical rulers, as well as reflect in the applicable fields on the
Page 3
change-measurement-systems-on-the-fly.php)
So after you’ve changed the measurement system to your particular preference, click the File - New - Document menu, and you’ll see
the following dialog...
Here, you can specify the number of pages. If you’re creating a
book with facing pages that need extra room at one edge for binding purposes, you’ll want to make sure the facing pages option is
checked. That way, you’ll end up with 2-page spreads. You can
choose the margin sizes, number of columns, and paper size as
well. Once you click OK, you’ll be looking at a similar screen layout
that I showed you on the previous page. Let’s jump in and create
our project...
Moving from page to page in InDesign
Since InDesign is a publishing application, it’s quite different from
using a word processor. If you’ve created a 12 page document, for
example, you can move from page to page in a number of ways...
Of course, the most obvious way is to use the scroll bars. You’ll see
each page and its pasteboard area.
The next way is to use the Pages palette. You can double-click any
page’s thumbnail icon to go to that page in the document. Also,
you can re-order pages by dragging them up or down the list.
This is also where you can view
the master pages (at the top of
the dialog - usually begins with
A-name or B-name, etc.). You put
items you want to appear on every
page on the master page, like page
numbering.
You can also use the page controls
at the bottom of the screen to
move to any page. (See illustrations at right and below.)
Working with Text in InDesign
Adding Graphics into Your InDesign Document
There are two ways to enter text into inDesign. One way is to type
your document into your favorite word processing program. Then
you place the file into inDesign using the Place command (in the
FILE menu). InDesign generally imports all formatting information
specified in the word-processing application, except information
for word-processing features not available in InDesign.
One great thing about working with the Adobe CS3 suite of applications is they work very well together. I use Bridge to view
and scan through my document files, graphics, etc. You can open
a graphic in Photoshop CS3 and manipulate it the way you want,
then save and open it within InDesign. In InDesign, you can rightmouse-button click on a graphic and choose ‘Edit Original,’ work
with it in Photoshop, save the changes, jump back into InDesign,
and the changes will be showing there.
When you place a text document into
inDesign, the cursor changes to a “place”
cursor . The cursor looks like the one to
the right. You’ll also see a little of the
text you are placing (or picture, if it is a
graphic). Because you can place more
than one file at a time in InDesign CS3,
this becomes very handy - you can see
which document you’re placing. To place
a document, you click in the upper left corner of the area in the
document where you want to place the file, then drag to the lower
right corner.
If there is more text than can fit in the frame you’ve created, you’ll see a red plus in the lower right portion of the
frame. To place the remainder of the text somewhere
else, get your selection tool (the shortcut is the escape
key), click on the red plus, and your cursor changes into
a place cursor again. Move to another section of your
document, click and drag another text frame, and your
text will continue in this frame. You keep doing this procedure until all your text is visible.
This kind of procedure results in a threaded story. When you
decide the change the shape or size of any of these text frames, the
story will re-flow to fit the new area. If any of your text cannot fit
into the re-sized frames, then you’ll see the red plus sign again.
The other way you can enter text into inDesign is to type it directly
in inDesign. Grab your text tool and click and drag a text frame
with it in your document. The options bar at the top will change
so you can see your font and size fields, and more ways to change
and control your text than you ever had in your word processor. You can see that option bar at the top of this page. You can
also use the Character palette in your
palette area to control many of the font
and type settings. (See the Character
palette to the right)
There’s much more about working with
text in InDesign that we can’t cover in
this short article. Here are some other
resources you may find helpful.
Link: http://www.layersmagazine.com/category/indesign/
Link: http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/video_workshop/
Link: http://indesignsecrets.com/
Link: http://www.pixel2life.com/tutorials/adobe_indesign/
Page 4
You place a graphic the same way you
place text. You go to the FILE menu
and choose the Place command.
Select the image you want to place,
and the cursor will change to the place
cursor with a preview of your graphic
showing. Click and drag a frame, just
like you did with text.
Depending on the size of your graphic you’re placing, you may not
see all of the image in the frame you’ve created. With the selection
tool, you can click on the frame to see the re-size handles. With
the blue frame handles you can stretch or shrink the frame to see
more (or less) of your image. This re-sizes the frame only, not the
graphic.
To re-size the graphic itself keep clicking the frame again with the
selection tool until it turns brown. Or you can grab the Direct Selection tool (the white arrow tool) and click on the frame. Now you
can re-size the image rather than the frame.
Between these two tools, you can work with the size, cropping,
and shape of both the frame and the image that has been placed
within it.
To make your text wrap around your image, go to the Window
menu and choose ‘Text Wrap.’ If you’ve used text wrap in Microsoft
Word or other programs, this window will look familiar to you. You
can choose how your text will wrap around your graphic, as well as
the spacing you want to separate your graphic from your text. You
have some options as well. I use the text wrap window so much
that I’ve dragged its window into my palette area so its always easily opened.
Using InDesign Master Pages
When you first create a new document, a default master page,
called the A-Master, appears in the top section of the Pages palette.
You can use this as your first master page, but you can also create
as many master pages as you want in InDesign. A master page is
used to place graphics and text that are common to more than
one page in your document. For example, the color bar at the top
and bottom of the UCET newsletters, and the page numbering
are elements I’ve placed on the A-Master in this document. Other
common master page elements would be company logos, colored
side bars, dividing bars, etc. Remember, this is where you put
something that you want to appear on many pages, so a master
can save you lots of time!
To get to the master pages, or to create more of your own, go to
the Pages palette in your palette bar. Double click on the A-Master
(which I renamed A-Front Page in the illustration at right.) Then
place text and graphics just as I described how on the previous
page.
To create a new master, click on the small single triangle in the
master page section of the Pages palette. You’ll see the drop down
menu at the right. Choose ‘New Master...’ and follow the dialog box
that will continue through the process. Here you can also associate
pages to a particular master page you’ve created (‘Apply Master to
Pages...’), and you can load a master page from another document
you’ve created.
To automatically number pages from a master page, get your text
tool and create a text frame, then go to the Type menu, Insert
Special Character, Markers, and choose ‘Current Page Number.’ Size
and place this text frame on your master where you wish the page
numbers to appear. If you already have more than one master,
you’ll want to copy this text frame and place it in the same position
on your other masters as well.
One nice thing about master pages in InDesign - you can create a
new master page based upon one you’ve already created. When
you’re in a master page, the ‘Duplicate Spread’ option you see in
the menu at right becomes ‘Duplicate Master Spread “A-Master”’
which will give you an exact copy of your master page, named
‘B-Master’. You can then change elements on that master page and
associate pages with it.
Master pages are a very powerful and time saving feature of InDesign. If you do a daily, weekly, or monthly publication - and want
to keep the same look and feel each time, you develop a document
with all your text styles, master pages, and layouts, and save them
as a template rather than a regular InDesign document. That way,
when you double click on a template file, InDesign will open a copy
of your template, so you never end up writing to your template file.
Page 5
Creating a Table in InDesign
Tables are important to any text and layout application. They are
an easy way to communicate information quickly, and are often
used to summarize large amounts of data into an easily read format. Tables consist of rectangles (called cells) laid out in rows and
columns.
InDesign regards tables as text, so they can only be created within
a text frame. And you’ll need the text tool to edit a table.
To create a table, you must first create a text frame. Grab your text
tool and click and drag a text frame on your document. Then you
can go to the table menu and select ‘Insert Table...’
In the dialog that appears (see illustration at right), you can choose
how many rows and columns you desire. You can also select how
many header and footer rows you want. A header row will appear
at the top of the table, and if the table takes up more than one
page - will appear at the top of the table on each page. Of course,
a footer row is the same, only at the bottom row of a table.
Once your table has been created, the ‘Table’ menu will allow you
to control almost every aspect of your table, including the ability
to merge cells together, or to unmerge them. You can split cells
either vertically or horizontally. There’s a lot more you can do as
well. Explore the table menu options.
Adding color to a table always can put some pizzazz into a document. You use
the text tool
to select cells,
rows, or columns
of your table.
Then go to the
swatches palette to add a fill color or apply
a stroke color. In the upper
left corner of the ‘Swatches’
palette, you’ll see the stroke
and fill icon. The stroke icon
is on the bottom right, the
fill icon is in the upper left
in this illustration. You can
switch them by clicking the
corner arrow. Whichever icon is on top will
be the active choicse. If you want to fill the
cells with color, make sure the fill icon is on
top, then pick a color swatch from the list. If
the color you want is not in the list, create a
new swatch by clicking the single triangle
in the upper right corner of the palette, and
choose ‘New Color Swatch.’ To color the lines of the table, switch to
the stroke icon and follow the same procedure.
By the way, this is how you can color or put a stroke on any frame
you’ve created in InDesign, including text and graphics frames.
This is how you’d create a colored side bar box as well. If you create a shape with the Rectangle tool, elipse tool, or shape tool - this
is how you’d color the fill and stroke on these as well. You’ll notice
that there is a ‘Stroke’ palette as well, which will let you choose the
thickness and style of a stroke. There is also a ‘Table’ palette which
provides a quick click to many options you’ll find in the Table
menu.
Page 6
A Typical Workflow for an InDesign Document...
It always helps to know the process for creating an InDesign document. Here the workflow I use...
1) Create and name a folder for my InDesign project on my computer’s hard drive.
2) Create or gather all the text files (such as Word documents,
Excel files, PDF documents, etc.) and graphics I plan on using in my
InDesign document.
3) Create a blank InDesign document and save it to my folder.
4) Use the frame tool and create my layout for my document,
including any master page layout items.
5) Place (File-Place command) the text and graphics into the document where I want them to be. One of the great new features of
InDesign CS3 is that you can select many documents or graphics to
place at one time. In the browse dialog that comes up when you
issue a place command, you can select more than one file by using
the shift key or the control key (command key on a Mac). As you
place files into frames in your document, you’ll see a preview of
your file at the cursor.
6) Clean up (perfection counts!), spell check, and otherwise double
check that everything is working the way you want it to. Be sure to
save your file often. Sometimes it’s helpful to save versions of your
file as you go along.
7) Publish or print your file. More about this...
Publishing Your InDesign Document
If you’re going to print your document, it’s as easy as File-Print in
the menu. Most print shops have InDesign, so if you’re printing
things professionally, you can send your InDesign file to them to
print. Be sure to ask your publisher.
You can go to the File menu and do ‘Export’. Here you can export
your InDesign file as a PDF file, JPG image, EPS file, and more. This
is how I publish the UCET newsletter each month.
Conclusion
InDesign is a powerful desktop publishing program. However,
there are many others as well. You’ll find many similarities between
the various desktop publishing programs, so if you learn how to do
one, it will be easier to learn others.
Some desktop publishing programs are freeware. One example is
PagePlus SE from Serif. PagePlus SE is a one way to get into desktop publishing and easily design professional-looking documents
for every occasion.
Link: http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/
Link: http://www.download.com/PagePlus-SE/3000-6675_4-10409484.html?cdlPid=10409485
If you’ve not used desktop publishing software before, you’ll be
amazed at the freedom you have to easily arrange and place
graphics, text, hyperlinks, and multimedia into a document. You’ll
start to wonder why you ever use that word processing program.
Now, all I need is a computer that’s smart enough to write it all for
me! Or at least, let me tell it what to write....
Page 7
HP Develops New Type of Memory Circuit
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO, April 30 (Reuters) - It took about 40 years to find it, but
scientists at Hewlett-Packard said on Wednesday they discovered a
fourth basic type of electrical circuit that could lead to a computer
you never have to boot up.
The finding proves what until now had only been theory -- but
could save millions from the tedium of waiting for a computer to
find its “place,” the researchers said.
Read more.... http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN3055073520080430
Celebrate NASA?s 50th Anniversary With the Digital
Learning Network
As part of NASA’s 50th anniversary celebration, the Digital Learning
Network will inspire students across the country with a five-part
series highlighting the contributions of each NASA center to a specific topic in NASA history. The DLN will take students on a journey
into NASA’s past while linking them to the vision for space exploration. A look at past, present and future goals of the space program
will offer a unique connection to student participants as they are
invited to be a part of the future of space exploration.
Each live webcast will link participants to two of NASA’s centers
with programs focusing on NASA’s past, present and future efforts
of space exploration.
All series segments will include discussions of the past, present and
future of each center’s topic.
Go Flight!
May 13, 2008, 1 p.m. -- 2 p.m. EDT
The year was 1958 and nothing would ever be the same. For the
first time, the United States sent a man-made device into space.
This new frontier of exploration required ingenuity and creativity.
Much of the effort made to make space exploration a success was
expended at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Kennedy Space
Center. Join this webcast to re-live the incredible past events at
these two centers, realize that the future milestones of NASA will
be accomplished by the students inside today’s classroom!
Astronomy: Bringing the Past to Light
May 14, 2008, 1 p.m. -- 2 p.m. EDT
May 14, 2008, 3 p.m. -- 4 p.m. EDT
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are combining forces to bring the rich history and science
of telescopes to light. This interactive learning event will peer back
through time to “first light” for Galileo’s refractor, highlight the evolution of the telescope into today’s large mountaintop reflectors,
and focus in on the present and future promise of NASA’s spacebased Great Observatories. Witness the inspiring trek of innovation
and discovery as NASA continues to explore.
Advancements in Aeronautics
May 20, 2008, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. EDT
Fly away with NASA’s Langley and Dryden Flight Research Centers
Page 8
to learn about their roles in the development of aeronautics during
NASA’s 50 years. Combined, the two centers have been studying
aviation for more than 90 years. Participants will learn more about
this fascinating area of science and how NASA’s advancements
have benefited mankind.
Propulsion: Past, Present and Future
May 20, 2008, 1:10 p.m. -- 2:10 p.m. EDT
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and Stennis Space Center
were built to examine Newton’s three fundamental laws of motion
through testing large-scale engines used for propulsion, engines
that would eventually take man to the moon. In recent years, both
centers were key to the development of the Space Shuttle Program, from the conceptual stages to the last flight in the coming
years. Today, as the shuttle is about to be retired, MSFC and SSC
look to a new era of space exploration taking man back to the
moon and beyond to new frontiers.
Wind Tunnels and Their Use in Aerospace
May 21, 2008, 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. EDT
May 20, 2008, 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. EDT
A design for a new aircraft or rocket may look great on paper, but
if the craft is built, will it fly? Learn how scientists and engineers
at NASA have answered this question over the past 50 years
without leaving the ground. Take a journey with the DLN and see
how NASA uses wind tunnel facilities for aviation and aerospace
research.
For more information about this series of webcast events and to
submit questions to be answered during the events, visit...
Link: http://dln.nasa.gov/dln/content/catalog/details/?cid=622.
Live Green Teacher Grants
What’s your vision for inspiring the next
generation of eco-smart, energy aware
kids?
The LIVE GREEN Teacher Grant program, a
Discovery Education program presented
by General Motors, challenges middle
school teachers to develop innovative ideas
for furthering environmental and energy
sustainability. Teachers will identify an issue
or problem, create a plan to address it, and
integrate the topic into classroom teaching.
Earn a $1,000 LIVE GREEN grant - 40 grants
will be awarded to teachers for the most
forward-thinking ideas. In addition, the
40 recipients will be treated to an exciting
online professional development program
designed to help them reach their school’s
specific green initiatives, including a free
digital camera to document and share the
experience!
Think about your vision, apply for a LIVE
GREEN grant, and pass on a brighter future
to your class.
Link: http://livegreen.discoveryeducation.com/
The entry period for the Discovery Education “Live Green” Teacher Grant Contest presented by GM has been extended through June 15,
2008.
Macintosh Tip: Silence the Volume-Changing Beep
Blogging helps encourage teen writing
“Usually the point of lowering your computer volume is to make
less noise, not more. To silence the volume-changing beep, hold
down the shift key while pressing the volume-down or volume-up
key. (This doesn’t work when you use your mouse to select the volume menu on the right
side of your menu bar.)
If you’re using a portable
Mac and you’ve set the
Keyboard & Mouse preference pane to require the
fn key in addition to the
volume-changing key,
don’t worry: adding the
shift key still silences the
beep and doesn’t require
too much in the way of
finger gymnastics.”
“Survey reveals that student bloggers are more prolific and appreciate the value of writing more than their peers...
Source: Mac OS X Hints
Superguide - Leopard
Edition Book
Link: https://m1.buysub.com/
webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=11901&storeId=11901&productId=441473&
sourcekey=newsletter
Page 9
For most media outlets that reported on an important new survey
measuring the impact of technology on teens’ writing skills, the big
news from the survey was that emoticons and text-messaging abbreviations are creeping into students’ formal writing assignments.
:-(
Buried beneath the
alarm of writing “purists,”
however, was a promising finding with equally
important implications for
schools: Blogging is helping many teens become
more prolific writers.”
Source: eSchool News Read the full article...
Link: http://www.eschoolnews.
com/news/top-news/?i=53663;_
hbguid=e0da166a-2d66-434d-9c7c01286ec3b126
2008 Youth Prizes for Excellence in International Education: $50,000 for essays on social or economic issues
This competition asks students to create an in-depth written essay
or multimedia feature examining a social or economic issue that
has relevance to them in a global context. In the essay category,
students will compare and contrast how the issue affects their
community and a community abroad, as well as create recommendations for what lessons the two communities could learn from
each other. In the multimedia category, students will explore how
a global problem or challenge affects their life as an individual, as a
member of their local community, and/or as a global citizen.
Link: http://askasia.org/students/gsfprizes.html
Source of grant listings on this page: http://www.eschoolnews.com/funding/
Classroom-Based Research Grants for Grades K–12 Teachers: Up to $8,000 for math teachers
This program supports and encourages classroom-based research
in precollege mathematics education in collaboration with college
or university mathematics educators. For 2009-2010, grants with
a maximum of $8,000 each will be awarded to classroom teachers currently teaching K-12 mathematics. The research must be
a significant collaborative effort involving a college or university
mathematics educator (a mathematics education researcher or a
teacher of mathematics learning, teaching, or curriculum) and one
or more grades K–12 classroom teachers.
Link: http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=1330
Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program:
for international education
More than $1M
The Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program is designed to foster
a global community of shared interests and values developed
through better mutual understanding via first-hand participation
of high school students, preferably aged 15-17, from countries with
significant Muslim populations in academic year or semester exchanges to the United States. The program seeks to select students
with leadership potential, to develop their leadership skills while in
the U.S., and to support them in alumni activities after they return
home.
Link: http://exchanges.state.gov/education/rfgps/maio29rfgp.htm
American Legacy Foundation Small Innovative Grants
Program: $100,000 for tobacco education
Through the Small Innovative Grants Program, Legacy supports
projects that advance creative, promising solutions based on principles of tobacco control to remedy the effects of tobacco use in
America. Legacy created the program to seed new projects or enable an organization to pilot a new idea or approach. The proposed
project must demonstrate an element of creativity, ingenuity or
innovation.
Link: http://www.americanlegacy.org/64.aspx
Page 10
Challenge 20/20 Grant
Challenge 20/20 is an Internet-based program that pairs classes at
any grade level (K-12) from schools in the U.S. with their counterpart classes in schools in other countries; together the teams (of
two or three schools) tackle real global problems to find solutions
that can be implemented at the local level and in their own communities Deadline to apply: August 15, 2008.
Link: http://www.nais.org/resources/index.cfm?ItemNumber=147262
Toshiba Grants Program for 7-12 Science and Math Education: $5,000 grants for science and math
This program helps the quality of science and mathematics education by investing in projects designed by classroom teachers to
improve instruction for students in grades K-12. Grant applications
of less than $5000 are accepted year round. Grant applications for
more than $5000 are accepted no later than February 1 or August
1.
Link: http://www.toshiba.com/tafpub/upload/page/100045/25964_Executive.pdf
www.ucet.org
Member Newsletter for June 2008
Welcome to Summer!
Unless you’re teaching at a year-round school, you’ve finished your academic year within the last few weeks. It’s now summer
vacation, and you have some time to explore. Or maybe you’re looking for opportunities to stretch your horizons and increase
your skills in a particular area. Summer is a great time to take on these challenges.
This issue of the UCET newsletter will focus on some great resources to go exploring, whether it be about our great state
of Utah, the United States, the world, or the universe. I know if you will take time to explore these treasures, you will
enjoy the journey. I did.
Just a quick reminder that you can view or download the UCET 2008 Over-the-Shoulder presentations, and
David Pogues keynote address, on the UCET website. Just click on the conference link in the site’s header.
Link: http://www.ucet.org/inUCETnew/conference/
2008 Technology Grants for Rural Schools Program
The Technology Grants for Rural Schools program was created to help meet the growing need for innovative technology in the classroom. The grants are funded by a
donation from the Rural Telephone Finance Cooperative (RTFC) and strive to
help public schools in rural areas served by OPASTCO members bring
modern computers to every classroom, connect schools to the
information superhighway and make sure that effective and
engaging software and online resources are an integral
part of the school curriculum. (sourcce - eschool
news)
Link: http://www.fred.org/tech.html
Page 1
PHUN - a Free 2D Physics Sandbox!
Phun, a master’s thesis project by Emil Ernerfeldt, is an addictive program that will let you build things in a 2 dimensional space (your computer monitor), and then apply physics models to them. Items you create have gravity, slosh like water, etc. You can build Rube Goldberglike machines and much more. At the site, you can download PHUN for Windows, Linux, or Macintosh. The site is a wiki, so the community
of PHUN users can share information, scenes, and more. You’ll have to try this one!
YouTube video about PHUN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H5g9VS0ENM
Link to the PHUN website: http://phun.cs.umu.se/wiki/
Space.com Videos
Link: http://www.space.com/php/video/
This web site is full of hundreds of high-quality videos on
space exploration and discovery. These videos discuss
NASA technology, space missions and the natural wonders
of space. These videos are up to date with amazing graphics and easy to understand narrations. The movies are easy
to access and load very quickly. They are an excellent educational tool and yet are entertaining and very well made.
This site includes current NASA news and space flight
information with videos of recent space launches. There
is also a great link called space views, which gives you the
opportunity to order posters and also have an in depth look
at stars and planets. This web site is loaded with valuable
and informative information on space exploration and is an
excellent tool for teachers to instruct their classrooms on
the mysteries of our solar system.
Page 2
2008 Math Hero Awards Honoring Educators - More than $160,000 for math
education
Raytheon’s MathMovesU program is designed to engage middle school students in math by
illustrating the connection between math, their passions and interests, and “cool” careers. The
focal point of the program is the MathMovesU.com web site, targeted towards students. The
goal of the web site is to stimulate interest in everyday math through compelling and relevant
content and prize winning contests and events. (sourcce - eschool news)
Link: http://www.mathmovesu.com/
Apple Previews Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Developers
SAN FRANCISCO—June 9, 2008—Apple® today previewed Mac OS® X Snow Leopard, which
builds on the incredible success of OS X Leopard and is the next major version of the world’s
most advanced operating system. Rather than focusing primarily on new features, Snow
Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X, set a new standard for quality and lay the
foundation for future OS X innovation. Snow Leopard is optimized for multi-core processors,
taps into the vast computing power of graphic processing units (GPUs), enables breakthrough
amounts of RAM and features a new, modern media platform with QuickTime® X. Snow Leopard includes out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and is scheduled to ship in
about a year.
“We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow
Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice
president of Software Engineering. “In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience,
we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world’s most advanced
operating system.”
Snow Leopard delivers unrivaled support for multi-core processors with a new technology
code-named “Grand Central,” making it easy for developers to create programs that take full
advantage of the power of multi-core Macs. Snow Leopard further extends support for modern hardware with Open Computing Language (OpenCL), which lets any application tap into
the vast gigaflops of GPU computing power previously available only to graphics applications.
OpenCL is based on the C programming language and has been proposed as an open standard. Furthering OS X’s lead in 64-bit technology, Snow Leopard raises the software limit on
system memory up to a theoretical 16TB of RAM.
Using media technology pioneered in OS X iPhone™, Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X,
which optimizes support for modern audio and video formats resulting in extremely efficient media playback. Snow Leopard also includes Safari® with the fastest implementation of
JavaScript ever, increasing performance by 53 percent, making Web 2.0 applications feel more
responsive.*
For the first time, OS X includes native support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 in OS X applications Mail, iCal® and Address Book, making it even easier to integrate Macs into organizations
of any size.
*Performance will vary based on system configuration, network connection and other factors.
Benchmark based on the SunSpider JavaScript Performance test on an iMac® 2.8 GHz Intel
Core 2 Duo system running Mac OS X Snow Leopard, with 2GB of RAM.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented
the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the
industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and
professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod
portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone
market with its revolutionary iPhone.
Press Contacts:
Jennifer Hakes - Apple - [email protected] - (408) 974-7439
Bill Evans - Apple - [email protected] - (408) 974-0610
Page 3
Exploring Utah’s National Parks and Monuments
Natural Bridges National Monument:
Utah has a wonderland of national parks and monuments. If you
can’t vacation there, you can still learn and explore them online.
The National Park Service website...
http://www.nps.gov/nabr/
http://www.nps.gov/
is a wonderful place to start. Each park site has a various sections
in the left column, some of the parks and monuments have sections just for teachers and for kids that include lesson plans, curriculum materials, applications for teacher internships, and more.
Let’s go explore Utah’s parks and monuments.
Canyonlands National Park:
http://www.nps.gov/cany/
Dinosaur National Monument:
http://www.nps.gov/dino/
Golden Spike National Historic Site:
http://www.nps.gov/gosp/
http://www.nps.gov/state/ut/
Timpanogos Cave National Monument:
Arches National Park:
http://www.nps.gov/tica/
http://www.nps.gov/arch/
California National Historic Trail:
Cedar Breaks National Monument:
http://www.nps.gov/cali/
http://www.nps.gov/cebr/
Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail:
Zion National Park:
http://www.nps.gov/mopi/
http://www.nps.gov/zion/
Old Spanish National Historic Trail:
Bryce Canyon National Park:
http://www.nps.gov/olsp/
http://www.nps.gov/brca/
Pony Express National Historic Trail:
Rainbow Bridge National Monument:
http://www.nps.gov/poex/
http://www.nps.gov/rabr/
As well as the many national parks, monuments, and historic sites
and trails - Utah has 42 state parks. These wonderful places are
described at the Utah State Parks website...
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area:
http://www.nps.gov/glca/
Capitol Reef National Park:
http://www.nps.gov/care/
Hovenweep National Monument:
http://www.nps.gov/hove/
Page 4
Link: http://stateparks.utah.gov/
Like the National Park Service website, each park features different
resources, but many include materials for kids and for teachers.
One example, the Utah Fieldhouse of Natural History State Park
Museum has sections for educators, junior rangers, activities and
events, maps, and even a fossil journey. Have fun as you explore
each of these Utah treasures!
Explore Ancient Cultures
The Field Musuem of Chicago has an interesting site
that revolves around their
new exhibition, The Ancient
Americas, which opened
March 2007. From their
website, “Step into the windswept world of Ice Age mammoth hunters. Walk through
a replica of an 800-year-old
pueblo dwelling and imagine
your entire family cooking,
eating, and sleeping in one
small room. Explore the
Aztec empire and its island
capital, Tenochtitlan, a city of
more than 200,000 people
and an extraordinary feat of
engineering for any era. (Photos from the site)
The Field Museum’s ground-breaking new
exhibition, The Ancient Americas, takes you
on a journey through 13,000 years of human
ingenuity and achievement in the western
hemisphere, where hundreds of diverse societies thrived long before the arrival of Europeans.
You’ll discover what Field Museum scientists
and others have learned about the people who
lived in the Americas before us, and how it’s
changing nearly everything we thought we
knew!”
You can learn more about understanding cultures here. A section on the basics of society
states, “Culture is shaped by the common concerns that all humans have: where and how to
obtain food, clothing, and shelter, and how to
express themselves artistically and spiritually.
Page 5
How each group of people answers these needs varies, resulting in
different responses, or different cultural practices and traditions.”
It was interesting to read how cultures change over time, and why
they do so.
For the Americas in particular, the site covers topics such as the
ice age, innovators, farming villagers, powerful leaders, rulers and
citizens, empire builders, and living descendants.
The site has a section of interactives. “To better understand the
Indigenous peoples of the Americas, dozens of archaeologists
and anthropologists at The Field Museum work in countries across
North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean. Follow a
few of these scientists on their expeditions to unearth the story of
these ancient cultures.” One is the story of an expedition to Oaxaca, Mexico. Another is an expedition to Cerro Baúl.
There is a section of research and collections that’s quite interesting. Through the featured scientists section, you can learn more
about The Field Museum scientists who contributed to The Ancient
Americas exhibition. Their groundbreaking research sheds new
light on our understanding of human culture and
the evolution of societies
across the ancient Americas. Then you can explore
the online collections that
include ceramics, textiles,
and other objects from
many different cultures
across the Americas.
There is a section just for
educators that includes
student programs, reading
materials, online resources,
and a glossary.
Link: http://www.fieldmuseum.org/
ancientamericas/index.html
Exploring National Geographic’s Sea
Monsters Time Line
Link: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/seamonsters/timeline/
Here’s a fun site to go explore. Travel through
the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods
of Earth’s history. See the world as scientists
believe it looked like during those periods.
And most fun of all, learn about the awesome
creatures that used to stalk our oceans and
seas. The timeline is interactive; you can
click and explore a variety of monsters in
each era. Each click will take you to more
information, visuals, and interactive items.
The timeline supports an iMax movie produced by National Geographic, “Sea Monsters, a Prehistoric Adventure.” There is a
great photo gallery, where you can download desktop wallpapers of the images. Go
visit the virtual dig, where you can search for
dinosaur and sea monster skeletons.
A section, just for kids, features a color book,
projects such as the toothpick Tylosaurus
and making fossil impressions, sea monster
trading cards, and more.
A section just for teachers has some great
curriculum materials divided into grades
three through five, middle school, and high
school.
Page 6
Is Your Internet Browser Running Sluggishly?
You might try these tips to help things run faster. First, sluggish
browser behavior can be caused by adware, malware, or a virus.
You’ll want to run your virus checker, or the free Windows Malicious
Software Removal Tool. Make sure your virus definitions are up-todate and that you have scanned your computer.
Secondly, make sure you’re running the latest version of your
browser. If not, upgrade to the latest version. Firefox just released
version 3 of its browser on June 17, 2008.
Third, you could have a browser plug-in causing your sluggish
behavior. Sometimes these plug-ins are called add-ons (such as
in Firefox). Disable all your add-ons, restart your browser, and see
if that solves the problem. If it does, then re-enable your add-ons
one at a time until you find the culprit causing the problem.
For detailed directions on how to do this, watch this video from
PCWorld...
Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Here’s another great interactive way to go exploring - this time
the Smithsonian’s massive collections related to the history of the
Americas. Explore through eras, such as ‘three worlds meet’, ‘colonization and setttlement’, ‘revolution and the new nation’, ‘expansion and reform’, ‘Civil War and reconstruction’, ‘development of the
industrial United States’, ‘emergence of modern America’, ‘the great
depression and World War II’, ‘postwar United States’, and ‘contemporary United States.’
In each era you’ll see stars that link to Smithsonian resources.
Mouse over a star and you’ll see a description, or zoom in and see
icon views of each event in history. Clicking an icon or star will pop
up a description window that links to the full information, such as
the Star Spangled Banner window I’ve opened in the illustration
below. Clicking the GO link will take you to an entire Smithsonian
Link: http://find.pcworld.com/60719
DimDim.com - Free web meetings
From their website: http://www.dimdim.com/
Dimdim is a free web conferencing service where you can share
your desktop, show slides, collaborate, chat, talk and broadcast via
webcam with absolutely no download required for attendees.
Flexible. The Dimdim Web Meeting service is available in open
source and commercial enterprise editions capable of supporting
thousands of attendees. And unlike all other web meeting solutions, Dimdim is available in both onsite (you install it on your servers) and hosted (we install it on ours) configurations.
Easy. Open. Free. - Like you, we tried all those other web conferencing solutions and found them exceedingly expensive, difficult to
implement and impossible to customize. So we created Dimdim as
the easy, open and free web meeting alternative.
It just works. - Dimdim just works - no software to download or
maintain, and it takes only a few clicks to join or host your very
own meetings.
See & Hear Here. - Dimdim’s built-in VoIP capability is a godsend to
customers with limited access to quality phone service, providing
free calling to and from any computer with a microphone and an
Internet connection. Even our powerful video broadcasting and
desktop sharing features scale elegantly with your bandwidth, all
automatically.
website dedicated to the star spangled banner.
You’ll find a fair variety of links to marvelous, complete resources
from the History Explorer. From the Lewis and Clark expedition to
Victorian homemaking to weapons of war, you’ll find a pretty good
slice of American history and culture at this site.
Link: http://americanhistory.si.edu/explorer/index.cfm
Page 7
Try it for free. Click to experience the simplicity and power of Dimdim
today and see for yourself how now the world can meet freely.
Exploring the Universe: HubbleSite
Link: http://hubblesite.org/
The HubbleSite contains current news, a gallery, descriptions of
discoveries made with the Hubble Space Telescope, reference
materials, educator materials, and more. HubbleSite is the home of
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the renowned orbiting telescope
whose discoveries have forever altered our knowledge of the
universe.
One great section of the site is for stargazers. Here you can watch
“Tonight’s Sky” a video of the night sky highlights you’ll see if
you are stargazing. They also keep an archive of all the previous
months’ video back to 2005. From the Tonight’s Sky side menu,
you can link to SkyWatch, where you can join SkyWatch hosts
for a weekly conversation that highlights news from the world
of astronomy. Listen in via your computer or MP3 player as they
bring the latest discoveries down to Earth. SkyWatch also includes
HubbleWatch, a monthly round-up of news from NASA’s Hubble
Space Telescope.
Another fun section of the HubbleSite is about black holes. You’ll
want to explore this one...
Link: http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/
The hubble gallery contains an extensive collection of images that
have great descriptions to go along with them. You can download
the images in a number of resolutions, including high resolution
photos that you can print.
Another must see section is the movie theater, where you can watch online versions
of fifteen movies, including Revelations,
A Star’s Life, Hubble 2003, Hubble 2004,
Hubble 2005, Hubble Reborn, and more.
Link: http://hubblesite.org/gallery/movie_theater/
I think you’ll find that you can explore
HubbleSite for hours and hours and still not
see everything there is to see. I particularly
liked the rich multimedia the site has been
infused with. If you’re interested in exploring the night sky, our solar system, or the
universe, this is a great place to start.
HubbleSite also links to Amazing Space,
another great resource from NASA and its
affiliates.
Link: http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/
Page 8
Childrens Books Read By Actors and Storytellers
Link: http://storylineonline.net/
Here’s a fun site. Here you’ll find videos of popular childrens stories
read by the Screen Actors Guild Foundation. Each book also has
accompanying lesson plans and activities. Some of the stories:
•Guji Guji, by Chih Yuan Chen; read by Robert Guillaume
•Sebastian’s Roller Skates, by Joan De Deu Prats; read by Caitlin
Wachs
•Sophie’s Masterpiece, by Eileen Spinelli; read by CCH Pounder
•Stellaluna, by Janell Cannon; read by Pamela Reed
•Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, by Mem Fox; read by
Bradley Whitford
•No Mirrors in My Nana’s House, by Ysaye M. Barnwell; read by
Tia and Tamera Mowry
•The Night I Followed the Dog, by Nina Laden; read by Amanda
Bynes
•Thank you, Mr. Falker, by Patricia Polacco; read by Jane Kaczmarek
•My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, by Patricia Polacco; read
by Melissa Gilbert
•Knots on a Counting Rope, by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archam-
Page 9
bault; read by Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels
•Brave Irene, by William Steig; read by Al Gore
•A Bad Case of Stripes, by David Shannon; read by Sean Astin
•Private I. Guana, by Nina Laden; read by Esai Morales
•Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch, by Eileen Spinelli; read by
Hector Elizondo
•The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg; read by Lou Diamond
Phillips
•Me and My Cat, by Satoshi Kitamura; read by Elijah Wood
•Dad, Are You the Tooth Fairy, by Jason Alexander; read by
Jason Alexander
•When Pigasso Met Mootisse, by Nina Laden; read by Eric Close
•White Socks Only, by Evelyn Coleman; read by Amber Rose
Tamblyn
•Romeow and Drooliet, by Nina Laden; read by Haylie Duff
•Enemy Pie, by Derek Munson; read by Camryn Manheim
You’ll need to have the Flash player installed on your computer.
Sometimes, if a lot of people are trying to access the same story, it
may pause on you. You can view the stories full screen, and they
are captioned as well. I think you’ll enjoy this site.
PicLens - a 3D Virtual Wall for Viewing Videos and Photos
Searches on Your Browser
PicLens is a FireFox browser plug-in that allows you to do Google
image searches, or YouTube video searches, etc., in a brand new
style - as a 3D wall of images.
Link: http://www.piclens.com/
A free download, PicLens is a wonderful way to do a search
for visuals. From a CNET review I found at http://www.download.
com/8301-2007_4-9869219-12.html - it said, “PicLens, which we’ve covered
before, is a browser plug-in that replaces the typical
photo viewer you use on sites like Flickr. It’s recently
been updated, and if you haven’t checked it out lately,
now’s the time. It’s stunning.
The plug-in, which works in Internet Explorer, Firefox,
Flock, and Safari (where it’s a bit limited), lets you create
a moving wall of images where you’d otherwise just see
your Web app’s more static display of pictures. Launching the viewer is just a matter of clicking a new “play”
icon that appears on images when you’re on a PicLenssupported site.
Sort of like CoverFlow, and in a very good way. You can
fling the wall backwards and forward to see images in
the list, zoom in to full-screen versions of files with a
double-click, or start a slideshow. It’s a very Mac-like
Page 10
experience.
You also get a search bar in the viewer, which can scan for tagged
images on Google, Yahoo, Flickr, PhotoBucket, SmugMug, and
DeviantArt. The plug-in itself recognizes images from more sites,
including Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Picassa Web Albums, and AOL
Images.”
In the illustrations below, I’m using PicLens to do a Google image
search on butterflies. You can also view the pictures or videos in
a slideshow like fashion. Then to get to the actual image, you just
click the world icon at the bottom of the PicLens screen.
Story Place - The Children’s Digital Library
Children and their parents have for years enjoyed
attending storytimes, checking out books and
participating in a number of other educational,
entertaining and participatory programs at the
various locations of The Public Library of Charlotte
Mecklenburg County. StoryPlace, an interactive web
site, came about to provide children with the virtual
experience of going to the library and participating
in the same types of activities the library offers. In
the summer of 1999, a team of Children’s Librarians
and Specialists got together with in-house web developers to begin development on this exciting site.
In the Spring of 2000, StoryPlace premiered with its
first section, the Pre-School Library, completed.
StoryPlace currently consists of two libraries, the
Preschool Library and Elementary Library. There’s
a screenshot of the elementary
library. Each link leads you into a
story or activity, such as the story,
“I Will Not Take a Bath.” This story
also has activities, make-it and
take-its, and a reading list of other
related childrens books, such as
“Harry the Dirty Dog.”
You’ll need to have a multimedia
capable computer with Flash
installed to use this site. The site
also links to another site, the
Book Hive which is a wonderful
resource of online stories as well.
Link: http://www.storyplace.org
Page 11
Need to Email a Large File?
fee.
Most email programs restrict you on the size of a file that you can
attach. Some companies limit you to a megabyte or less. Others
are a little more lax, allowing up to five or ten megabyte files to be
attached.
Link: http://www.yousendit.com/
However, if you want to make someone mad at you, just try sending them a ten megabyte file. If they have a pop email account
over a slow connection, they’ll have to wait (sometimes for hours)
while your file downloads - even before they can see who it’s from.
I don’t think after that kind of experience, you’ll want to show your
face around their place for a while.
There is a better way, however. Yousendit is a website that allows
you to attach and upload that large file and send to yousendit’s
website, and it will then email your recipients (you can have up
to 100 recipients) with a link to download the file at their convenience. You don’t have to sign up or even enter a password. The
service is free for any file under 100 MB, and the individual files can
be downloaded 100 times. Additional services are available for a
Page 12
Features as listed on the website for the free Yousendit Lite accounts:
Plenty of size - Send files up to 100 MB with a 1 GB monthly download limit.
Spread the word - Allow up to 100 downloads of every file.
Address book - Keep track of your friends’ and family’s email addresses in one handy location.
Files remain available for 7 days - Give your recipients a week to
download the files you’ve sent.
HIPAA Compliant - We are HIPAA compliant. Read more. Click here
for more information
www.ucet.org
HP Labs Proves Existence of New Basic Element for Electronic Circuits: Memristors - “Memristor” discovery could lead
to far more energy-efficient computing systems with memories
that don’t forget, never need to be booted up. PALO ALTO, Calif.,
April 30, 2008: Press Release
HP today announced that researchers from HP Labs, the company’s
central research facility, have proven the existence of what had
previously been only theorized as the fourth fundamental circuit
element in electrical engineering.
This scientific advancement could make it possible to develop
computer systems that have memories that do not forget, do not
need to be booted up, consume far less power and associate information in a manner similar to that of the human brain.
In a paper published in today’s edition of Nature, four researchers at HP Labs’ Information and Quantum Systems Lab, led by R.
Stanley Williams, presented the mathematical model and a physical
example of a “memristor” – a blend of “memory resistor” – which
has the unique property of retaining a history of the information it
has acquired.
Leon Chua, a distinguished faculty member in the Electrical
Engineering and Computer Sciences Department of the University of California at Berkeley, initially theorized about and named
the element in an academic paper published 37 years ago. Chua
argued that the memristor was the fourth fundamental circuit
element, along with the resistor, capacitor and inductor, and that
it had properties that could not be
duplicated by any combination of the
other three elements.
Building on their groundbreaking
research in nanoelectronics, Williams
and team are the first to prove the
existence of the memristor.
“To find something new and yet so
fundamental in the mature field of
electrical engineering is a big surprise,
and one that has significant implications for the future of computer
science,” said Williams. “By providing
a mathematical model for the physics
of a memristor, HP Labs has made
it possible for engineers to develop
integrated circuit designs that could
dramatically improve the perforPage 1
Member Newsletter for July 2008
mance and energy efficiency of PCs and data centers.”
One application for this research could be the development of
a new kind of computer memory that would supplement and
eventually replace today’s commonly used dynamic random access
memory (DRAM). Computers using conventional DRAM lack the
ability to retain information once they lose power. When power is
restored to a DRAM-based computer, a slow, energy-consuming
“boot-up” process is necessary to retrieve data from a magnetic
disk required to run the system.
In contrast, a memristor-based computer would retain its information after losing power and would not require the boot-up process,
resulting in the consumption of less power and wasted time.
This functionality could play a significant role as “cloud computing”
becomes more prevalent. Cloud computing requires an IT infrastructure of hundreds of thousands of servers and storage systems.
The memory and storage systems used by today’s cloud infrastructure require significant power to store, retrieve and protect the
information of millions of web users worldwide.
Memristor-based memory and storage has the potential to lower
power consumption and provide greater resiliency and reliability in
the face of power interruptions to a data center.
Another potential application of memristor technology could be
the development of computer systems that remember and associate series of events in a manner similar to the way a human brain
recognizes patterns. This could substantially improve today’s facial
recognition technology, enable security and privacy features that
recognize a complex set of biometric features of an authorized person to access personal information, or enable an appliance to
learn from experience.
Williams is the founding director of HP Labs’ Information and
Quantum Systems Lab, which is
focused on turning fundamental
advances in areas of mathematics and physical science into
technologies useful for HP. For
the past 12 years, Williams and
his team have conducted primary scientific research into the
fundamental limits of information and computing, which has
led to a series of breakthrough
discoveries in nanoelectronics
and nanophotonics.
Web Attacks on the Increase! Beware!
Based on Microsoft data, the extent of infected PCs monthly...
•1 in 123 overall
•1 in 112 in the United States
•1 in 685 in Japan
(PCWorld Magazine - July 2008 - page 56)
Hard Drives Getting Smaller and Faster
Hard drives come in two basic sizes - those with 3.5” and 2.5.” Traditionally, the 2.5” hard drives have been used in portable devices
such as phones, ipods, etc. Their capacity has been limited to 80GB
or 120GB. But over the past few months we’ve seen their capacity
increase to 250GB and 320GB. Now 500GB drive are shipping in
this size. At these capacities, the 2.5” drives are finding their way
into desktop PCs and even servers.
2.5” drives perform better mechanically than 3.5” drives, because
the drive platters rotate at 5300 RPM or 7200 RPM, you smaller
disks have less tendency to flutter at the outer edge of the platter.
Western Digital now produces a 10,000 RPM drive that fits into a
2.5” chassis. Named VelociRaptor, the new drive adds blazing access speed to applications and games that would benefit from it.
Welcome to Puzzlemaker! - Discovery
Education’s Free Puzzle
Creation Tool for Teachers and Parents
Puzzlemaker is a puzzle
generation tool for teachers, students and parents.
Create and print customized word search, crisscross, math puzzles, and
more using your own word
lists. It’s easy to use!
Create word searches,
criss-cross puzzles, double
puzzles, letter tiles, number
blocks, hidden messages,
math squares, cryptograms, and more. For each
puzzle, click your preferences and click the ‘create
my puzzle’ button! Discovery Education also sells a
CD-ROM version.
Link: http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/
Page 2
Astronomy Picture of the Day
“The Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) website is a service provided by NASA and Michigan Technological University (MTU). According to the web site, “Each day a different image or photograph
of our universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written
by a professional astronomer.” The photograph is not necessarily
taken on the exact day that it is displayed, and images are sometimes repeated. However, the pictures and descriptions are often
related to current events in astronomy and space exploration. The
images are either photographs, images taken at other wavelengths
and displayed with false colors, or artist’s conceptions. Past images
are stored in the APOD Archive, with the first image appearing on
June 16, 1995. This initiative has received support from NASA, the
National Science Foundation, and MTU. The images are sometimes
authored by people or organizations outside of NASA, and therefore APOD images are often copyrighted, unlike many other NASA
image galleries.” (Wikipedia)
From the APOD website: “Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is
originated, written, coordinated, and edited since 1995 by Robert
Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell. The APOD archive contains the largest
collection of annotated astronomical images on the internet.
In real life, Bob and Jerry are two professional astronomers who
spend most of their time researching the universe. Bob is a professor at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan,
USA, while Jerry is a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Maryland USA. Jerry is a married, mild and lazy
guy, while Robert is much the same but recently divorced. Each
might appear relatively normal to an unsuspecting guest. Together,
they have found new and unusual ways of annoying people such
as staging astronomical debates. Most people are surprised to
learn that they have developed the perfect random number generator.”
Link: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Two NASA Sites for Learning About the Solar System and
Our Universe:
Starchild, sponsored by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, is a
web site that teaches about our Solar System and the Universe. It’s
available in two levels, one for younger elementary age students,
and the other for older elementary students.
Link: http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov
Imagine the Universe focuses on middle and high school students,
and is dedicated to the study of our Universe... what we know
about it, how it is evolving, and the kinds of objects and phenomena it contains. Both sites contain lots of resources for educators.
Link: http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Page 3
Xobni - a Popular Utility Plug-in for Outlook
Xobni is the Outlook plug-in that saves you time finding email
conversations, contacts and attachments. After a quick install,
you’ll see the new Xobni toolbar appear in Outlook - and suddenly
information will become much easier to find. When a new email arrives, the sender’s full communication history appears in the Xobni
sidebar, including past conversations, attachments and contact
details. Xobni also includes a blazing fast email search tool. This is
the first version available on CNET Download.com
Link: http://www.xobni.com/
Blender - a Powerful, Free 3D Creation & Rendering Tool
Blender is a 3D animation program released as Open Source
software. It can be used for modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing,
rigging, water simulations, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulations, non-linear editing, compositing, and
creating interactive 3D applications. Blender is available for several
operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux,
IRIX, Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD with unofficial ports for
BeOS, SkyOS, AmigaOS, MorphOS and Pocket PC. Blender has a
robust feature set similar in scope and depth to other high-end 3D
software such as Softimage|XSI, Cinema 4D, 3ds Max, Lightwave
and Maya. These features include advanced simulation tools such
as rigid body, fluid, and softbody dynamics, modifier based modeling tools, powerful character animation tools, a node based material and compositing system and Python for embedded scripting.
(Wikipedia)
All images on this page were created in (or are screenshots of )
Blender.
Link: http://www.blender.org/
In addition, I’ve embedded a short clip, “Animation Test 1 - Mini Tru”
which we affectionately call “Chicken Chair.” It will demonstrate
the animation capabilities of blender. You’ll need Quicktime to
view the video, which you can watch by clicking the illustration
below...
MINI TRU (CHICKEN CHAIR)
Page 4
Windows Product Key Viewer/Changer (exe)
IM-Translate - Instant Message Translation in Real Time
Do you need to recover your Windows product key code? Did you
buy a used computer and need to change the registered owner
name? Do you need to reinstall, but have lost your product key?
This program will display your Windows 98, ME, 2000, or XP product key. This program does not generate illegal codes. This program
will allow you to on an installed operating system, copy it to the
clipboard, copy it to notepad or Microsoft Word and print it for safe
keeping. Version 2.9 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.
IM-Translate features immediate translation of instant messages
using an intuitive machine-based language translator. IM-Translate
conjugates verbs and uses sentence analysis to render the most
accurate translation possible, instantly. Even IM chat slang/jargon
has been incorporated into the translator. Version 2.5 have been
added: Full English to Spanish and Spanish to English translation,
more IM jargon incorporated for all languages, and an Icon on Desk
top to start directly IM-Translate.
Link: http://www.programurl.com/windows-product-key-viewer-changer.htm
SyncBack
SyncBack is a free, opensource application you can use to backup,
synchronize, or restore your files to another drive, FTP server, ZIP
file, networked drive, or removable media. Highly configurable,
SyncBack includes: detailed, easy to read log files; email results;
simulated backups and restore; file filters; sub-directory selection;
copy verification; background backups; auto-close of programs;
easy and expert modes; profile groups; compare files, and an
extensive context sensitive help file.Version 3.2.10 may include
unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.
Link: http://www.initzero.it/products/opensource/synbak/
Ad-Aware 2008 Free
Ad-Aware 2008 is an update of the popular system scanning software. The latest version includes a redesigned engine, improved
code sequence, incremental definition updates, one-click Web
history cleanup and more.
Some features:
•Improved Threat Detection
• Spyware, Adware, Trojans & Hijackers
• Fraud Tools & Rogue Applications
• Password Stealers & Keyloggers
•Enhanced Rootkit removal system
•Faster Updates & Faster Scans
•Less Resource Usage for optimal computer performance
•Easy to Download, Install and Use
•Lavasoft ThreatWork submission tool
•Compatible with Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit)
Link: http://lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php
•Immediate translation of instant messages.
•You do nothing differently — IM-Translate™ integrates seamlessly into your existing IM application — just type as usual.
•Forget copy, pasting or jumping back and forth to a webbased translator.
•Your buddy receives your message plus a translation — instantly.
•You see the translation of the text you typed.
•You also receive your buddy’s messages in both languages.
•Free! — Downloads in seconds with broadband.
Link: http://www.im-translate.com/
Pidgin - Combine All Your IM Clients into One!
Pidgin is an instant messaging program for Windows, Linux, BSD,
and other Unixes. You can talk to your friends using AIM, ICQ,
Jabber/XMPP, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC,
Novell GroupWise Messenger, QQ, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE,
MySpaceIM, and Zephyr.
Pidgin can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks
simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends
on AIM, talking to a friend on Yahoo Messenger, and sitting in an
IRC channel all at the same time.
Pidgin supports many features of the various networks, such as
file transfer, away messages, and typing notification. It also goes
beyond that and provides many unique features. A few popular
features are Buddy Pounces, which give the ability to notify you,
send a message, play a sound, or
run a program when a specific
buddy goes away, signs online,
or returns from idle; and plugins,
consisting of text replacement, a
buddy ticker, extended message
notification, iconify on away, spell
checking, tabbed conversations,
and more.
Pidgin is free software. It is
licensed under the GNU General
Public License (GPL) version 2.
This means you are free to use
it and to modify it, but if you
distribute your modifications
you must distribute the modified
source code as well.
Link: http://www.pidgin.im/
Page 5
Apple’s Business Quick Tips Site
Sometimes it’s hard to find a little help or training on how to do
certain things in your operating system. For Macintosh users,
here’s a series of video quick tips that will help you get from point
A to point B on something you have been wanting to do. One of
many excellent resources I’ve run across.
Link: http://www.apple.com/business/theater/
Page 6
National History Education Clearinghouse
Funded by the U.S. Department of Education (contract number ED-07-CO-0088), the National History
Education Clearinghouse (NHEC) is designed to
help K-12 history teachers access resources and
materials to improve U.S. history education in the
classroom. The Clearinghouse, funded through the
Office of Innovation and Improvement’s Teaching
American History (TAH) program, builds on and
disseminates the valuable lessons learned by more
than 800 TAH projects designed to raise student
achievement by improving teachers’ knowledge
and understanding of traditional U.S. history.
The Center for History and New Media (CHNM) and
the Stanford University History Education Group
have created the Clearinghouse with the goal of
placing history content, teaching strategies, current research and issues, community building, and
easy access to resources at center stage. We aim
to bring together the many communities involved
in improving history education and professional
development for history teachers, allowing practitioners, historians, administrators, and history
educators to present multiple perspectives, debate
current issues, and work together to improve history teaching in classrooms throughout the United
States.
Link: http://teachinghistory.org/
NASA’s Solar System Lithograph Set
For educators that want to teach units on
our solar system, a great resource to have
on hand is NASA’s Solar System Lithograph
Set (LS-2005-12-003-HQ — JPL 400-1253A
12/05). Available as a freely downloadable
PDF file, teachers can choose to print these
8.5” x 11” mini posters, or to distribute them
to their students as an electronic document.
Each of the nineteen mini posters contains
a wealth of information about the poster’s topic on
the flip side. There are posters about our solar system
in general, about the sun and each of the planets, our
moon and other moons in our solar system, meteors
and meteorites, asteroids, comets, and the Kuiper Belt
and Oort Cloud.
I have placed a high resolution version of these wonderful lithographs online at
TeacherLINK. While you’re there, you might want to browse through the other
NASA educational materials available to you as well.
Link to this resource: http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlnasa/pictures/litho/solarsystemlitho/
Link to TeacherLINK’s NASA resources: http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlnasa/
Link to NASA CORE: http://education.nasa.gov/edprograms/core/home/index.html
You’ll find hundreds of NASA videos there as well which have been digitized for
download. They’re not closed captioned, and are for preview purposes or presentations - the username is nasamovies, and the password is aesp. Closed captioned originals may be obtained through NASA CORE.
Page 7
Verizon Foundation Education Grants
Up to $10,000 to boost literacy skills. From their website: “The
Verizon Foundation is in the business of improving lives in literacy,
knowledge and a readiness for the 21st Century. Specifically, we
help people to:
•Increase their literacy and educational achievement
•Avoid being an abuser or a victim of domestic violence
•Achieve and sustain their health and safety
Eligible organizations seeking grants from the Verizon Foundation
must be prepared to track and report program outcomes as well as
specific results that demonstrate measurable human impact. In the
grant application, organizations must indicate what outcomes are
targeted through programming and what results, as specified on
the grant application, the organization will measure.
The Verizon Foundation reviews unsolicited proposals on a continuous calendar year basis from January 1st through November 1st.
Verizon Foundation only accepts electronic proposals through its
Apply Online process. Successfully submitted online proposals receive an electronic notice confirming receipt of the application via
e-mail. Please allow up to ninety (90) days for a final decision.”
Link: http://foundation.verizon.com/grant/guidelines.shtml
cludes a brief description, cost range, populations served, and the
operating technology platform, among other features. TechMatrix
does not endorse the products it features, but it does supply user
reviews, as well as a customer guide to help educators make more
informed decisions. The site is updated on an ongoing basis and is
accessible free of charge. (Source: eSchool News)
Good deal: Web site ties math concepts to real-world
phenomena
Link: http://www.math.hmc.edu/funfacts
The mathematics department at Harvey Mudd College has created
a web site with ideas and puzzles designed to change the way students think about math. Called “Math Fun Facts,” the site includes
tidbits such as the math behind card shuffling, poker, fractals, and
music. Designed as a resource for enriching math courses and nurturing interest and talent in mathematics, the site offers popular
and fun math-related facts each day. Word problems, puzzles, and
quick lessons provide information on various math-related topics.
Users are able to search for content by subject, such as algebra,
number theory, probability, and geometry. (Source: eSchool
News)
SmartSleep.prefPane for Macintosh
SmartSleep is a preference pane that dynamically sets the sleep
state of your machine. It’s a successor to Hibernate.prefPane.
The Problem - Your Macbook or Macbook Pro knows the following
sleep states:
•sleep: machine will go to sleep only (saves state in RAM only,
battery keeps RAM contents)
•sleep & hibernate: machine sleeps and hibernates. (default)
•hibernate only: machine will go to hibernate only. (saves state
on disk, battery will not be used)
Database helps educators compare assistive software and
technologies
Just sleep means that the notebook will go to sleep fast, but you
loose the ability to change the battery as the battery is needed to
keep the contents of the memory (RAM).
Link: http://www.techmatrix.org
Just sleep and hibernate will wake the computer fast, but sleeping will take ages as the contents of the memory are saved to disk
before entering the sleep.
The National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI) has updated
its TechMatrix, a searchable database that enables educators and
families of students with disabilities to identify and compare assistive learning software and technologies. Users can search for and
compare more than 190 products that focus on improving the lives
of students with special needs. Funded by the NEC Foundation
of America and the U.S. Department of Education, the expanded
TechMatrix allows users to generate a detailed report on customized searches within four areas of focus: reading, mathematics,
writing, and assistive technologies. Users can search for products by subject area, technology feature, and/or product name,
and they can compare the features and functionalities of similar
software programs. The information contained on each product inPage 8
The solution - SmartSleep.prefPane let’s you select each select
sleep state. Additionally the new SmartSleep state lets your notebook just sleep while the battery has a high level. If the battery
level drops below a certain point ( default is less then 20% or 20
minutes ) it will switch to sleep and hibernate. So you have the best
of both worlds. It’s free!
Link: http://www.jinx.de/SmartSleep.html
Quick 15 Minute Lesson On Astronomy
It’s a great experience to go out on a clear, dark evening and look
at the stars. Have you ever wished you knew how to identify some
of them? Here’s a fifteen minute, interactive lesson on identifying
some of the main features of the northern night skies.
Link: http://www.quietbay.net/Science/astronomy/nightsky/
Similar in form to an online PowerPoint presentation, this tutorial
begins with having you find the constellation Orion. Once you’ve
correctly identified Orion, you practice locating Orion’s Belt, Betelgeuse, the Big Dipper, Polaris, and more. After fifteen minutes of
practice, you’ll be well on your way to being able to identify major
constellations, stars, and planets.
Free Applications for Macintosh from Plyxim
Link: http://www.plyxim.com/
Plyxim has released a number of nice applications for Macintosh
that are free (however, donations are gladly accepted).
One, Easy iWeb Publisher, is a free Mac application that allows the
quick and easy uploading of iWeb sites to your web host. It will
quickly upload a file or the contents of a folder to a web site via
FTP. Once configured, uploading a web site created in iWeb is as
easy as dragging a folder on to the Easy iWeb Publisher icon in the
dock.
Easy iWeb Publisher will also publish web sites created with virtually any web site creation program. Just drag the folder that contains the web site to the Easy iWeb Publisher window, configure,
and more.
Grade Slider is an application inspired by the old cardboard grade
sliders. It aids teachers in grading tests and quizzes by providing a
list of calculated percentages.
Say It Save It is a free application for Mac OS X that speaks text files
and saves them as MP3 files. Say It Save It uses MP3 encoding
libraries from The LAME Project. Version 2.0 is a major update that
adds Leopard support, support for Cepstral voices, and user interface changes.
History Searcher is a Mac OS X application that searches browser
history and bookmark files (i.e., Safari, Firefox, Camino) for specific
keywords. History Searcher will also display the contents of browser history file in an easy-to-read exportable format. Version 1.2:
History Searcher now searches Mozilla and Safari bookmark files.
Battery Drain is a free utility for Mac OS X 10.4 which allows users to
charge or drain their batteries to a certain amount for long-term
storage.
When storing lithium-ion batteries for an extended period of time,
Apple recommends storing them with a 50% charge. Battery Drain
allows you to set the charge amount and will automatically shut
down the computer when the battery has reached the proper
charge.
files to human-readable xml format. Version 1.0.1 includes the option to automatically open the xml-formatted plist in TextEdit.
Set Software Update Server is a free utility for Mac OS X 10.4 which allows administrators to point a workstation to a local Apple Software Update Server without having to use the command line.
Static Map Importer is a free utility for Mac OS X Server 10.4. This software allows administrators to import multiple MAC addresses into
the Static Maps section of Server Admin without entering them
individually by hand.
The owner of the site says, “All of the above applications are available to download for free. If you find my applications useful, please
consider sending a few bucks my way. As always, if you have any
questions, comments, suggestions, praise or critique, feel free to
e-mail [email protected].”
Battery Drain is useful for administrators of large numbers of portable Macintosh computers, such as iBooks and MacBooks.
Scott is an elementary school teacher outside of Tampa, Florida.
Besides his unbridled passion for all things Apple, Scott enjoys running, swimming, playing the guitar and producing music. Scott is a
big fan of Queen, Frank Zappa and This Old Podcast.
plist Helper is a simple application that converts binary format .plist
I think you may find some of his applications useful.
Page 9
Create iCal Events from Anywhere
Here’s a great power tip I just learned from the August 2008 issue
of MacWorld (page . Most of the time when I’m working on my
Macintosh and need to add something to my iCal calendar, I’m not
in iCal. So I have to run the program, find the date, add the event,
and close iCal. Here’s an easy way to create a quick dialog that will
add your event no matter what program you’re in. We’re going to
create our own mini-application using Automator, which, when
run, will bring up a dialog that will allow you to enter and add an
event to your calendar. This tutorial will be using the Leopard operating system. If you’re using Tiger, you’ll want to visit http://macworld.
com/3613.
First, launch Automator from your applications folder. In the dialog
that appears, choose Custom and
then click Choose. (See top illustration at right)
You’ll then be in the Automator workflow window. In the left
column, click once on Calendar.
Then in the next column, drag the
New iCal Event into the workflow
window on the right. You’ll then
see the New iCal Events window in
open in the workflow area.
Click on the Options button at the
bottom of that window, and check
the “Show this action when the
workflow runs” check box. That’s
really all you need to do. However,
if you desire, you can set the “Add
to:” and “Alarm” settings to whatever you desire. (See illustration
at right)
Now, go to the File menu and click
Save. In the save dialog box, be
sure the file format is set to Application. Give your file a name and save it in the location on your
Macintosh that you desire.
To make it easy to access, open the location where you saved the
file, and drag its icon to the dock where you want it. The other
icons will scoot out of the way, and let you add this one to your
dock. You’re all set!
To use what you’ve just created, click on the icon in the dock. An
“Add iCal Event” dialog will open. Fill in your event information and
click “Continue.” The event will be added to your calendar.
For more information and other’s feedback on this tip, visit the
MacWorld website...
Link: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070914200257411
That’s all for this month’s newsletter. As always, your feedback and
site suggestions are always welcomed. We’d love to share the best
resources you’ve found with the rest of our readers. Education is
such a wonderful profession, and it’s great to find tools and helps
to add to teachers’ toolbox - all to the benefit of our students!
Page 10
www.ucet.org
Member Newsletter for August 2008
SHARK Evolves into SHAPEWRITER
Back in 2003, Shumin Zhai and Per Ola Kristensson
developed a new way of entering text on mobile
or pen-based devices. Called SHARK (ShorthandAided Rapid Keyboarding), it uses a unique
method for entering text. You still use an onscreen keyboard, but instead of tapping each letter of a word, you put your finger on the first letter
of a word, the slide your finger over to the second
letter, continue sliding to the third letter, and so
on until you have finished the word, then release
your finger from the keyboard. Magically, your
word appears on the screen. How is it better than
tapping out a word? After using the method a while, your mind remembers the shapes
your fingers draw on the keyboard. Some users report being able to enter 60-70 words a
minute using this method of entering text. Not as fast as typing on a regular keyboard, but
quite a bit faster than tapping letters on a mobile device.
“The first system ...was only a prototype system that could recognize about 100 pen gestures for the top 100 words used in the English language. It used an handwriting recognition algorithm that relied on dynamic programming to recognize the word patterns drawn
from a lexicon. The next version described by Per Ola Kristensson and Shumin Zhai (2004)
has a fundamentally different recognition engine that can recognize 50,000 - 60,000 words
with low latency. This system introduced the notion that every word in a large lexicon
should be possible to write by tracing the letters. It is this system that was the basis for
the software release on IBM alphaWorks that is generally associated with the term “ShapeWriter”.” (Wikipedia)
With the recent release of the iTunes App Store, you can download a free version of WritingPad. This application can store notes and send email using ShapeWriter on your iPhone
or iPod Touch. Error correction is fast and easy. When the word you shapewrite does not
appear correctly on the screen, usually the correct word will show up on the word bar just
above the keyboard. You just press the correct word and it replaces the incorrect one. If
the word is not in its 60,000 word lexicon, you can tap-type the word in and WritingPad will
ask if you wish to add it to its dictionary. You can shapewrite it from then on. WritingPad
comes with two keyboard options: The standard qwerty keyboard, and an ATOMIK keyboard that’s optimized for shapewriting.
I was impressed with how accurate the shapewriting process is. In just a few minutes I was entering text on my iPod Touch faster than I
could using the regular system keyboard. I did find a couple of flaws in the 1.0.1 release, however. I found that if I entered too much text,
WritingPad would slow down, and eventually freeze up on my 8GB iPod. I was still able to email what I had written to myself, where I finished writing in the email app. Also, the word bar words would start disappearing quickly when I had pushed WritingPad close to its limit.
Even with these glitches, WritingPad has become my preferred text, note, and email composition program, just because I can enter text
nearly twice as fast as I can using the regular tap-type method. I (and others) have reported these problems and the ShapeWriter team has
responded. They’ve informed me that they’ve replicated the glitches in their lab and are working on an update which will fix them.
In an increasingly mobile computing environment, shapewriting may become the standard way that people text on their devices.
Link for the free WritingPad application:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=285484703&mt=8
Link for ShapeWriter’s website, where you can watch demos of the product:
Page 1
http://www.shapewriter.com/
Desktop Virtualization - A Solution for School Districts?
Perhaps you remember thin-client computing from the 1990’s?
This model of managing many computers involved a powerful
server that would feed the desktop operating system, applications,
etc., from the server to client stations on the other end which were
essentially dumb terminals. A dumb terminal is a bare bones PC
- basically a keyboard and a monitor. The server was doing all the
work. Pushed by Oracle and other companies, thin-client computing didn’t ever get off the ground in a big way. The horsepower
and bandwidth needed to accomplish this model of computing
was too expensive at the time.
Now that bandwidth has come down in price, is widely available,
and computers are much more powerful, school districts are taking
a second look at this model of computing - now coined “desktop
virtualization” - or “virtual desktops”.
Although it still requires a powerful server - this method of software distribution and computer management has many advantages. One problem school districts face is hiring enough IT staff
to help manage thousands of computers spread over a fairly large
geographic area. Being able to keep PCs updated, secure, and
solve software incompatibilities stretches the available IT staff to
its limits. Schools often experience significant delays from the
time a problem is reported to IT until the time the problem is fixed.
Page 2
Having all desktops served centrally makes more efficient use of
IT Staff time. All operating systems and software updates can be
managed centrally.
An additional advantage is that it extends the life of computers
in the schools by several years. Since the server is doing all the
work, those old computers run the software just as well as the
newer ones. Another advantage is that any computer can run any
operating system: Macintosh, Windows, Linux, etc., and run all the
applications that run on those operating systems.
I think you’ll be hearing lots more about virtual desktop computing
in the future. Software licensing strategies are still in infancy, but
will probably work on an annual subscription basis.
A parallel approach to software distribution is the web-based
applications we’re seeing more of. Google Docs, Zoho, or Adobe’s
new online products such as Adobe Photoshop Express are examples of this approach. Now it’s possible to do all your word documents, spreadsheets, presentations, graphic design and editing,
multimedia production, etc., online without ever having to store
anything on your computer. These online applications will become
ever more sophisticated over time. Many educational software
companies have moved to this method of distributing their products. It will be interesting to see which approach wins out. (Photo
courtesy of Stock.xchng - http://www.sxc.hu/photo/742500)
First-Ever 21st Century Skills Map Released - Partnership for 21st Century Skills and National Council for the Social Studies Create Framework for Integrating 21st Century Skills into Social Studies Curriculum
Press Release: WASHINGTON, D.C. — July 17, 2008 – The 21st Century Skills and Social Studies Map, the first of its kind to be released, demonstrates how the integration of 21st century skills into the social studies supports teaching and prepares students to become effective
and productive citizens in the 21st century.
The map, developed by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and National Council for the Social Studies, provides educators with concrete
examples of how 21st century skills can be infused into classroom practices and highlights the critical connections between social studies
and 21st century skills.
“I am confident we have developed an invaluable resource for social studies teachers and educators in general as we move toward a 21st
century education system,” said Michael Yell, president of the National Council for the Social Studies.
“This map represents the intersection of 21st century
skills and the social studies and provides an exciting
tool for teachers and students.”
The map details how to align teaching and learning
to the demands of the 21st century by providing
lesson examples that combine core skills like critical
thinking, creativity and innovation with interdisciplinary themes (civic, economic and entrepreneurial
literacy and global awareness). The map also cites
specific student outcomes and provides project
models that will result in enhanced student achievement in grades four, eight and 12.
“I want to commend NCSS for their dynamic leadership in moving the social studies into the 21st century,” said Ken Kay, president of the Partnership for 21st
Century Skills. “This release highlights the Partnership’s work to develop innovative tools that both integrate 21st century skills into curriculum and positively impact student learning.”
The 21st Century Skills and Social Studies Map is the first in a series of core content maps designed for educators, administrators and
policymakers. Other maps will be available for mathematics, English, geography and science throughout 2008 and 2009. All of the Partnership’s resources are freely available at http://www.21stcenturyskills.org.
See Social Studies Map at http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/documents/ss_map_final.pdf
About the Partnership for 21st Century Skills: The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is the leading advocacy organization focused on infusing 21st century skills into education. The organization brings together the business community, education leaders, and policymakers to
define a powerful vision for 21st century education to ensure every child’s success as citizens and workers in the 21st century. The Partnership encourages schools, districts, and states to advocate for the infusion of 21st century skills into education and provides tools and
resources to help facilitate and drive change. 21st Century Skills Leadership States include: Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey,
North Carolina, South Dakota, Wisconsin and West Virginia.
Member organizations include: Adobe Systems, Inc., American Association of School Librarians, Apple, ASCD, AT&T, Atomic Learning,
Blackboard, Inc., Cable in the Classroom, Cengage Learning, Cisco Systems, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Davis Publications, Dell,
Inc., Discovery Education, Education Networks of America, Education Testing Service, EF Education, Ford Motor Company Fund, Giant Campus, Hewlett Packard, Intel Foundation, JA Worldwide, KnowledgeWorks Foundation, LEGO Group, Lenovo, Measured Progress, Microsoft
Corporation, National Education Association, Oracle Education Foundation, Pearson, PolyVision, SAP, Sesame Workshop, Texas Instruments,
THINKronize, Verizon, and Wireless Generation. Organizations interested in joining the Partnership may contact [email protected].
About National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS): NCSS is the largest association in the nation devoted solely to social studies education. Its membership is organized into a network of more tan 110 affiliated local, state, and regional councils and associated groups composed of pre-K-12 classroom teachers, college and university professors, school officials, supervisors and consultants, publishers, and other
social studies professional. There are currently some 23,000 individual and institutional members representing all states, and the District of
Columbia in the U.S. and many other countries.
NCSS defines the social studies as “the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence.” The basic purpose of the social studies program is to teach students the content knowledge, intellectual skills, and civic values necessary for fulfilling the
duties of citizenship in a participatory democracy. The mission of National Council for the Social Studies is to provide leadership, service,
and support for all social studies educators.
Page 3
Increase Your Green: 2008 School Competition
Powered by the National Grid Foundation
Do Something is calling on you to green your school. Reduce the
carbon footprint of your school this fall and you could win up to
$1500 to further your efforts.
Prizes:
Schools are eligible for a first-place prize of a $1500 grant, banner,
plaque and eco-friendly gift bags (up to thirty), and a chance to be
visited by the biotour bus!
They will also be giving out three $500 second place prizes.
All winners will be featured on their site and in local press.
What you need to do:
Participants must make concrete efforts towards reducing the environmental impact of their school during the eight week competition. All initiatives must be youth designed and led. A representative from each group must submit an online report of the school
or club’s actions to save energy, reduce waste and raise awareness
during the competition.
What you will be judged on:
Winners will be chosen based on the impact of your school’s actions during the eight week competition. The main judging categories are: 1) energy saved, 2) garbage reduced, recycled and reused,
3) number of people involved/impacted, 4) innovative quality of
actions and ideas.
A Quick Tip: Text Selection Tricks for the Macintosh
Those of you who are new to the Macintosh may not know
some of these text selection shortcuts. Some of you long
time users may have forgotten them. Here’s a quick refresher:
Select text a letter at a time: Click and drag to highlight the
text that you want. (or use the keyboard: Click and then
hold the shift key down while pressing either the left or right
arrow key on your keyboard.)
Select text a word at a time: Double-click and drag to highlight the
text you want. (or use the keyboard: Click and then hold the shift
and command keys down while pressing either the left or right
arrow key on your keyboard.()
Select text a paragraph at a time: Triple-click and drag to highlight
the paragraphs that you want.
Also, double clicking a word selects it. Triple-clicking a paragraph
selects that paragraph.
There’s one other selection trick, but it doesn’t work in every
program on the Mac. Hold down the OPTION key, the cursor will
change from the usual text-cursor to a cross. Now you can select
blocks of text, with no regards to line endings, paragraphs or else.
It’s hard to describe, just try it out. It’s perfect to select single vertical columns in text-based data.
Who can Participate?:
The competition is open to middle and high schools.
Timeline:
May 10th- October 13th: Register your club or school and by September you will receive an “Increase your Green” action guide filled
with tip sheets and goodies (i.e. stickers, posters, flyers) to help kick
off the competition at your school. REGISTER HERE
August 15th: All registered schools will receive “Increase your
Green” competition packets. If your registration is received after
August 15th you should receive your packet within 2 weeks.
October 13th: Competition begins.
December 8th: Competition closes.
Name Mangler for Macintosh
If you need to rename several files at once every now and then, this
is the application you have always been looking for. Name Mangler
is a batch file renamer that supports all common renaming tasks:
Find and Replace (including support for regular expressions); Number Sequentially; Change Case; Set Extension; Add Prefix/Suffix;
Remove/Insert Characters.
Moreover, you can combine all of these using the Advanced renaming mode, which even comes with some extra features, such as
conditional statements, nested counters, and more.
January 5th: Winners announced.
Name Mangler is more than just one versatile renaming utility —
it’s an infinite number of task-specific renaming utilities: Name
Mangler’s Droplets make it ridiculously easy to store configurations
and use those repeatedly for different, alternating purposes. Just
drop your files on them.
For more information, please contact Melanie Stevenson at msteven-
Name Mangler 2.0 runs natively on both Intel- and PowerPC-based
Macs and requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later. If you are on an earlier
system, get good old File List.
December 15th: Deadline for online submission forms detailing
action taken during the competition.
[email protected].
Link:
http://www.dosomething.org/increaseyourgreen
If you like Name Mangler, please consider making a donation via
PayPal.
Link:
Page 4
http://www.manytricks.com/namemangler/
NASA Announces Competitive Grant Programs
Press RELEASE : 08-180
WASHINGTON -- NASA’s Office of Education at headquarters in
Washington has announced three new extramural funding opportunities that could result in the award of grants or cooperative
agreements.
One of the three funding opportunities is the K-12 Competitive
Grants Opportunity, a competitive education grant program targeting secondary school level teaching and learning, with grants
being awarded to U.S. public schools and non-profit organizations.
The goal of the opportunity is to seek out and support new, innovative, and replicable approaches to improving science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning and instruction.
This will leverage NASA’s unique contributions to STEM fields.
The second area is the Global Climate Change Education Opportunity. The goal of this competitive project is to improve the quality
of global climate change and Earth system science education at
the elementary, secondary, and undergraduate levels. Each funded
proposal is expected to take advantage of NASA’s unique contributions in climate science to enhance students’ academic experiences
and improve educators’ abilities to engage and stimulate their
students.
In the third area of opportunity, NASA is making available funding for a competitive program for science museums, sciencetechnology centers and planetariums to enhance programs related
to space exploration, aeronautics, space science, Earth science or
microgravity. The Office of Education has contracted the external
peer reviewer proposal evaluation process to NASA’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Authority for final award selections
rests with NASA Headquarters.
For more detailed information about the 2008 Competitive Grant
Programs, visit:
http://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/
city council, mayor, city employees, community centers, and other
groups to create their film.
Every school that submits a qualifying Call for Entries form will
receive film submission guidelines and a Technology in Motion
launch kit, which includes:
•Free copy of Sony® Vegas™ Pro 8 Promotional Edition video
editing software
•Free copy of Sony® Cinescore™ Promotional Edition soundtrack
creation software
•Free Sony Vegas Pro and Sony Cinescore video tutorials
•1,001 royalty-free, motion picture sound effects
•Assortment of Cinescore themes for royalty-free soundtrack
creation
•Free electronic copy of the Vegas Pro Digital Video & Audio
Production curriculum guide
Sony Vegas Pro 8 software is a leading professional video and
audio production application. Sony Cinescore is an easy-to-use
application that automatically generates professional, royalty-free
soundtrack music. By participating in the Technology in Motion
contest, your students will gain valuable knowledge of the entire
movie production process – from script to screen.
Participating is easy. Here’s how the program works:
Step 1 CALL FOR ENTRIES - Complete and submit (by the school
representative of at least 18 years of age) a Call for Entries form for
each film concept submitted by a student or team of students who
wish to create a film. All Call for Entries forms must be received by
October 15, 2008. Sony Creative Software will send each participating school the Technology in Motion launch kit. (Launch kits will be
mailed on or around December 1, 2008.)
Step 2 CREATE A FILM – Use Sony Vegas Pro 8 software and the
Digital Video & Audio Production curriculum book (provided in
PDF format with the Technology in Motion launch kit) to help your
students plan, edit, and produce their original entry. Students can
also use the included Sony Cinescore software to create royaltyfree soundtrack music. Contest Submissions must include video,
audio, and film credits and should be no more than five (5) minutes
in total length.
Step 3 UPLOAD A SUBMISSION – Complete (by the school representative of at least 18 years of age) the online film submission
form and upload the film(s). Entries must be received between
January 1 and April 1, 2009.
Sony Technology In Motion 2 Contest
Presented by Sony Creative Software with the support of the International Society for Technology and Education (ISTE), the Technology in Motion project is a complete educational program created for
teachers to use in multimedia courses as a structured curriculum.
The contest is designed to engage students in professional video
and audio production.
The theme for the contest is “Community of the Future.” We want
students to share their vision of how technology will shape their
community in the future. For example, what might their community be like in the year 2050? How will people shop, travel, and
communicate? Students are encouraged to interact with their local
Page 5
Step 4 JUDGING – All submissions will be selected and judged
based on technical and creative criteria, which will be outlined in
the Technology in Motion launch kit. Three films will be chosen as
finalist submissions by an expert panel. The finalists’ films will be
posted online at www.techinmotioncontest.com between May 12
and May 20, 2009.
Step 5 AWARD CEREMONY - Two school representatives from each
of the top three finalists must attend an awards ceremony to be
held at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC)
2009. Winners will be publicly announced at the conference. Limited expenses in conjunction with attendance may be reimbursed
subject to submission of acceptable documentation.
Link: http://www.techinmotioncontest.com/
iTunes U Now Offering K-12 Content
With the help of several educational institutions, including Utah’s
Electronic High School, iTunes U is offering content for K-12 education.
http://deimos3.apple.com/indigo/main/main.html?v0=WWW-AMUSITUNESU070521-N48LX
Link:
“The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA)
announced the availability of these materials during the National
Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in San Antonio July 2.
As with other content on iTunes U, which before had been geared
primarily toward college and adult learners, the new resources can
be downloaded to a computer or mobile media player for easy
playback and review.” (eSchool News)
You’ll find educational content related to core subjects, professional development, software tutorials such as the 2008 UCET
over-the-shoulder sessions. student project showcases, lesson
plans, and more.
To get there, just go to iTunes U, and in the section called “Find
Education Providers,” choose K-12. (See illustration at the right).
That will take you to a list of eleven content providers (as of this
writing - see illustration at bottom right). From there, you can explore any of the K-12 content providers, such as the Utah Electronic
High School’s materials (shown below).
If you don’t have it installed already on your computer, you’ll need
the free iTunes software that’s available at...
Link:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
While you’re there, you’ll want to explore the college and university
content as well. Much of this can be used in a high school, or even
a middle school, setting.
Page 6
OpenOffice Woes on Mac OSX Leopard 10.5.4?
Link:
If you’ve been using OpenOffice
for the Macintosh Intel processor,
you know that OpenOffice runs
under the X11 Windows subsystem
(part of the OS install). Recently,
you may have noticed that you
get a “Command Timed Out” error
when trying to run OpenOffice - an
error that makes you wait about
a minute before OpenOffice will
continue to load. Some of you may
have found that X11 refuses to run
anymore at all - defeating OpenOffice entirely. This is a glitch that
Apple’s 10.5.3 system update introduced.
NeoOffice is a free (donation requested), full-featured set of office
applications (including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, and database programs) for Mac OS X. Based on the
OpenOffice.org office suite, NeoOffice has integrated dozens of
native Mac features and can import, edit, and exchange files with
other popular office programs such as Microsoft Office.
One workaround is as follows... The fix is to download and install a
new X11 system from http://xquartz.macosforge.org The current release
is 2.2.1 and it works on 10.5.3 - Until Apple fixes X11 in their distributions, subsequent installs of security patches and 10.5.x releases
will require a re-install of the xquartz package.
Another option is to try NeoOffice...
Page 7
http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php
Since 2003, NeoOffice has been the leading open source office
software created and supported by Mac users specifically for Mac
OS X and is used by over half a million people worldwide. NeoOffice is funded solely by the time and money donated by NeoOffice
users like yourself. Without donations from our users, NeoOffice
would not exist. Your donations have a huge impact on what we
are able to provide our users.
NeoOffice is available for free from the NeoOffice download page.
http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/maindownload.php
As of this writing, NeoOffice 2.2.4 is the latest version. Be sure to
also download the patch when requested after the install. NeoOffice is a Mac application and does not require the X11 windows
subsystem.
2008-2009 Seimens Competition
Number Of Awards: Multiple
In partnership with the College Board, the Siemens Foundation established the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology
and the Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement. The Foundation
is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to providing scholarships
and increasing access to higher education for talented mathematics, science, engineering, and technology students in the United
States.
Period: One year.
The Siemens Competition seeks to promote excellence by encouraging students to undertake individual or team research projects.
It fosters intensive research that improves students’ understanding
of the value of scientific study and informs their consideration of
future careers in these disciplines.
Link:
http://www.rgkfoundation.org/guidelines.php#programs
2008 Kids In Need Teacher Grants
Agency: Kids in Need Foundation
Eligibility: The applicant must be a K-12 certified teacher working
at a public, private, or parochial school in the subject of the project.
Kids In Need does not fund pre-school projects.
You can compete as an individual or as a member of a team.
Individual projects promote independent research. Team projects
foster collaborative research efforts, as well as individual contributions to the cooperative endeavor.
Purpose: The purpose of the grants is to provide funds for classroom teachers who have innovative, meritorious ideas. Your project
may qualify for funding if it makes creative use of common teaching aids, approaches the curriculum from an imaginative angle, or
ties nontraditional concepts together for the purpose of illustrating
commonalities. Innovation and merit account for 40% of the evaluation.
Scholarships for winning projects range from $1,000 to $100,000.
Deadline: September 30, 2008
Maximum Award: $100-$500
The Advantage of Participating
Number Of Awards: Multiple
Participating in the leading science and mathematics researchbased Competition for high school students in the United States:
Period: One year.
•Furthers your research skills
•Opens new doors in pursuit of your educational and career
objectives
•Provides the opportunity to meet other students who share
your interest in research
•Allows you to talk with distinguished scientists
•Offers you a chance to win a college scholarship
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: OCTOBER 1, 2008, 5 P.M. EASTERN TIME
Link:
http://www.collegeboard.com/siemens/index.html
RGK Foundation Education Grants
Agency: RGK Foundation
Eligibility: Grants are made only to nonprofit organizations certified as tax exempt under Sections 501(c)(3) or 170(c) of the Internal
Revenue Code and are classified as “not a private foundation”
under Section 509(a). Hospitals, educational institutions, and governmental institutions meeting these requirements are eligible to
apply. Organizations that have completed and filed Form 1023 but
not yet received an IRS determination letter are not eligible to apply. The Foundation does not make grants or loans to individuals.
Link:
http://www.kidsinneed.net/grants/guidelines.php
Reader’s Digest Foundation “Make it matter”
Eligibility: Non-profit organizations
Purpose: Make it Matter” is a new initiative of the Reader’s Digest
Foundation. The Foundation will give away $1 million to nonprofit
organizations based on inspiring stories submitted by the public.
Every month for ten months, Reader’s Digest will choose one
individual whose story of giving back serves as an inspiration to
others. For each story, the Reader’s Digest Foundation will donate
$100,000 to a nonprofit organization that is associated either with
the story or the cause. These individuals and their stories of giving
back will appear every month in the new “Make it Matter” column
in Reader’s Digest and on rd.com, beginning with the April issue.
Deadline: January 01, 2009
Maximum Award: $100,000 per month
Number Of Awards: 10
Period: over 10 months 4/08-1/09
Purpose: RGK Foundation awards grants in the broad areas of
Education, Community, and Medicine/Health. The Foundation’s
primary interests within Education include programs that focus on
formal K-12 education (particularly mathematics, science and reading), teacher development, literacy, and higher education.
More Information: Know anyone making an extraordinary contribution to your community? As announced on The Today Show, tell
the Reader’s Digest Foundation about them, and the story selected
by RDF may be featured in Reader’s Digest. Plus, RDF will give
$100,000 to a deserving charity in their name. Your stories may also
appear on todayshow.com or rd.com. So tell us about the good
works below -- or email your story to [email protected]!
Deadline: September 05, 2008
Link: http://www.efundraising.com/Readers-Digest-Foundation.
Maximum Award: $10,000-$50,000
aspx?partner=grantsalert
Page 8
Two Teacher Resources Suggested by Tom Siebold:
http://www.collegegrazing.com – College Grazing is a valuable
resource for college bound students and a wonderful tool for
school counselors. We have thirteen interactive self-discovery
surveys that provide immediate feedback to give college planning focus and insight. Included also is a complete application
essay writing guide and all the other tools that students will
need for a successful college search. It is all safe, FREE, and
meaningful.
http://www.teachersontarget.com Teachers on Target provides
dozens of FREE professional development activities for teachers. The easy-to-implement activities cover twelve different
aspects of teaching professionalism. The goal is to encourage
teachers to share best practices, articulate their professional
vision and goals, and gain insight into the “intangibles” of
teaching.
Thanks, Tom!
3-12 MATH GIZMOS - Approved by the USOE!
ExploreLearning Gizmos are award-winning interactive online
simulations that drive conceptual understanding of math and
science in grades 3-12.
Gizmos have just been approved by the Utah State Textbook
Commission - Evaluations of Instructional Materials: Internet
Publisher: Series / Title: EXPLORELEARNING - 3-12 MATH GIZMOS: Core Code: 07010000007: ISBN 9781416870012
ExploreLearning.com subscriptions give teachers and students
access to the entire library of over 480 Gizmos.
Gizmos are:
•Perfect for use in a computer lab, in small groups, or in
whole group instruction using a - projector or interactive
whiteboard
•Accessible from home by both teachers and students
•Correlated to state standards and leading textbooks
•Complete with inquiry-based lessons, assessment and
reporting
You can try out Gizmos by going to
http://www.explorelearning.com
and click the “Free Trial” button on the top left.
ISTE Revises NETS Standards for Education
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
has released revised NETS standards. The revised framework
focuses on what teachers should know to help students become productive digital learners and citizens.
http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/
ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm
Link:
Page 9
PureText - Paste Text Without Formatting - Free
Have you ever copied some text from a web page or a document
and then wanted to paste it as simple text into another application
without getting all the formatting from the original source? PureText makes this simple by adding a new Windows hot-key (default
is WINDOWS+V) that allows you to paste text to any application
without formatting.
After running PureText.exe, you will see a “PT” tray icon appear near
the clock on your task bar. You can click on this icon to remove
formatting from the text that is currently on the clipboard. You can
right-click on the icon to display a menu with more options.
The easiest way to use PureText is to simply use its hot-key to paste
text instead of using the standard CTRL+V hot-key that is built
into most Windows applications. To configure PureText, right-click
on its tray icon and choose “Options” from the pop-up menu. The
default hot-key is WINDOWS+V, but this can be changed. In this
Options window, you can also configure PureText to run each time
you log into Windows.
What PureText Will and Will Not Do
PureText only removes rich formatting from text. This includes
the font face, font style (bold, italics, etc.), font color, paragraph
styles (left/right/center aligned), margins, character spacing,
bullets, subscript, superscript, tables, charts, pictures, embedded
objects, etc. However, it does not modify the actual text. It will
not remove or fix new-lines, carriage returns, tabs, or other whitespace. It will not fix word-wrap or clean up your paragraphs. If
you copy the source code of a web page to the clipboard, it is not
going to remove all the HTML tags. If you copy text from an actual
web page (not the source of the page), it will remove the formatting.
PureText is basically equivalent to opening Notepad, doing a
PASTE, followed by a SELECT-ALL, and then a COPY. The benefit of
PureText is performing all these actions with a single Hot-Key and
having the result pasted into the current window automatically.
Link: http://www.stevemiller.net/puretext/
PhraseExpress - No more typing common phrases again!
Autotext clipboard utilityPhraseExpress organizes your frequently
used text snippets:
•Expand abbreviations and common phrases as you type.
•Launch applications by entering text shortcuts.
•Autocomplete phrases with the predictive text feature.
•Quickly handle email responses.
•Works in any Windows program.
Do you find yourself typing common phrases over and over again?
PhraseExpress saves you countless keystrokes and expands custom
abbreviations into frequently used text snippets. Typing ‘btw’ expands into ‘by the way’ or typing ‘excel’ can open your spreadsheet
program in a snap.
Link:
http://www.phraseexpress.com/
BullZip - Create PDF Files from Any Program
Gadwin PrintScreen
The BullZip PDF Printer works as a Microsoft Windows printer and
allows you to write PDF documents from virtually any Microsoft
Windows application.
Gadwin PrintScreen is an easy to use freeware utility that allows
you to capture any portion of the screen, save it to a file, copy it to
Windows clipboard, print it or e-mail it to a recipient of your choice.
This program is FREEWARE with limitations, which means that it is
FREE for personal and commercial use up to 10 users. It does not
contain any advertising or popups. For commercial applications
with more that 10 users there is a commercial version of the product available at www.biopdf.com.
Gadwin PrintScreen captures the contents of the screen with a single keystroke. The captured screen can then be sent to the printer,
or saved to disk as a file in 6 different graphics file formats.
Features
•Print to PDF from almost any Windows program.
•Runs on Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/XP x64/2003/2003 x64/
Vista/Vista x64/2008.
•Supports 64-bit operating systems.
•Direct output to the same file each time or prompt for destination.
•Control if the printer should ask if you want to see the resulting PDF document.
•Control output and prompts programmatically.
•Setup can run unattended.
•Graphical user interface.
•Password protect PDF documents.
•128/40 bit encryption.
•Quality settings (screen, printer, ebook, prepress).
•Set document properties.
•Watermark text, size, rotation, and transparency.
•Superimpose/background documents.
•Appending/prepending documents.
•User interface control.
•Command line interface to all settings.
•COM/ActiveX interface for programmatic control.
•Support for Citrix MetaFrame
•Support for Windows Terminal Server
•Multiple output types supported: BMP, JPEG, PCX, PDF, PNG,
and TIFF.
Link:
http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php
Page 10
Gadwin PrintScreen can capture the entire Windows screen, the
active window, or a specified area, when the hot key is pressed. The
hot key defaults to the PrintScreen key, but users may also define
other keys to initiate a capture. Gadwin PrintScreen allows you to
e-mail the captured images to recipients of your choice.
Link:
http://www.gadwin.com/products.htm
Gadwin Web Snapshot
Gadwin Web Snapshot lets you quickly turn Web pages into images. This Internet Explorer add-on effectively captures not just
parts of a Web page that are visible in a pane or window, but the
entire page including all design elements.
This Internet Explorer add-on effectively captures not just parts of a
Web page that are visible in a window, but the entire page including all design elements. The captured image can then be edited,
resized and annotated before being output to a graphical file.
Link:
http://www.gadwin.com/products.htm
CCleaner - Free Up Hard Drive Space in Windows
CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It
removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run
faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces
of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best
part is that it’s fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and
contains NO Spyware or Adware!
Link:
http://www.ccleaner.com/
TinkerTool for Macintosh
TinkerTool is an application that gives you access to additional preference settings Apple has built
into Mac OS X. This allows to activate hidden features in the operating system and in some of the applications delivered with the system.
The tool makes sure that preference changes can only affect the
current user. It will never change
any component of the operating
system, so the integrity of your
system is not put at risk, and there
will be no negative effect on system updates.
One especially useful option for
me was to turn off the system
sound effects. Since I work a lot
with recording audio on my Mac,
being able to turn these sounds
off was helpful. Now I can empty
the trash without worrying about
capturing that sound.
Link: http://www.bresink.de/products.
html
NASA Images Recently Made Available by the Internet Archive Site
Link:
http://www.nasaimages.org/
Looking for NASA images? NASA Images is a service of Internet Archive ( www.archive.org ), a non-profit library, to offer public access to
NASA’s images, videos and audio collections. NASA Images is constantly growing with the addition of current media from NASA as well as
newly digitized media from the archives of the NASA Centers.
The goal of NASA Images is to increase our understanding of the earth, our solar system and the universe beyond in order to benefit humanity.
To Come:
•Continuous updating of the
media collections. Custom
prints of the images with
NASA Images.org.
•Space and science-related
books and other merchandise through affiliate
relationships.
•We will encourage visitors
to use these services to
help support this project.
Here you’ll find a huge collection of NASA images that
include our universe, our solar
system, the earth, and NASA
missions. Most of the images
also have descriptions associated with them that detail
what the image is all about.
I think you’ll enjoy this site.
Page 11
A Parting Shot: The Beauty of Summer in Utah
Although not related to technology in any way (other than using a DSLR
camera), I wanted to share some photos with you. These were taken this
summer in Cache Valley, where I live. I’m always amazed and thrilled
with the beauty of life that surrounds us. I hope you enjoy the images as
much as I did when taking them. All photos by Nathan Smith ©2008.
Page 12
www.ucet.org
Member Newsletter for September 2008
Gearing Up for the UCET 2009 Conference!
Now that school’s begun, it’s time to start preparing for the UCET
2009 Conference. Once again, we plan to have two days of great
education and technology offerings that you’ll not want to miss.
The conference will again be held at Taylorsville High School in Salt
Lake City. It will take place March 6-7, 2009. Tim Tyson will be our
keynote speaker.
From Dr. Tyson’s website... “Called the “Pied Piper of Educational
Technology” by The School Library Journal, Tim has worked in the
field of education for nearly 30 years as a teacher (on the middle
school, high school, and college levels) and an administrator. He
served the students in the Cobb County School District for about
20 years, where, before his retirement, he was the principal of
Mabry Middle School. He was named one of Georgia’s High Performance Principals by Governor Sonny Purdue.
Tim has a passion for meaningful, authentic student engagement,
and technology is seen as a centerpiece for irresistible academic
achievement through creative, global, project-based learning activities. He has now turned his attention to supporting the profession on a national and international level by sharing his passion
and practical expertise for integrating technology into the entire
school plan—a proven vision that works.
Page 1
Dr. Tyson served as the principal of Mabry Middle School in Cobb
County School District for six years, and one of the best sources of
information about that work experience is MabryOnline.org, the
school web presence from August, 2005, until June, 2007. Tim developed the site, which served up over 1.5 million files each month
(a total of nearly 375 gigabytes of data in the first two years), and
averaged almost 6,000 requests per day!
The site, now archived as an example of best practices, was selfsustaining and kept active by every staff member. MabryOnline.
org is really a collection of about 100 blogs that include podcasts,
video, pdfs of class work on the interactive whiteboards, homework assignments, review activities, learning extension activities,
etc.
In 2001 Tim created the Annual Mabry Film Festival, which is nothing short of the Oscars for education—red carpet, lights in the
sky, pre-parties, tuxes and gowns, but above all: students wildly
excited about the world premier of their school work. The festival
has attained international recognition, even from people in the
industry. The George Lucas Foundation’s Magazine, Edutopia, said
that Mabry’s Film Festival is “like the Oscars but not lame.” All of
the movies from the 2006 and 2007 film festivals are online and
on the iTunes store. You will be amazed that 11, 12 and 13 year old
children produced this exemplary, deeply-moving work. But don’t
just read about it. Experience it!
Free Electronic Portfolio Generator for Teachers
The program director of Georgia Public Broadcasting, Patrice
Weaver, said, “This is as good as anything I’ve ever seen.” In fact, she
said that the movie on human embryonic stem cell research was
better than most of the things she has aired on TV!
In April, 2006, Leslie Connery, Deputy CEO and Conference Chair
for ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) referred
to Dr. Tyson’s work at Mabry as “a national treasure.” He was invited
to be the closing keynote speaker for NECC in June of 2007.
As a result of Mabry’s enormous web presence, Mabry has welcomed hundreds of visitors from around the USA. In fact, having
seen the students’ work online, visitors have even come from
around the world to visit the school to see how teachers and students leverage technology to achieve his vision for students and
teachers: learn, create, connect, and contribute.
Under Tim’s leadership Mabry was awarded the prestigious
School’s of Distinction Award for Technology Innovation from Intel
Corporation and Scholastic.
Georgia Public Broadcasting has produced a special TV program
aired around the state that features Mabry’s amazing technology
innovations.
Invited to Washington, DC, by the US Department of Education’s
Office of Instructional Technology, Tim has participated in a think
tank to develop a strategic plan and resources for principals to
advance America’s public school’s implementation of creative,
engaging, technology-based instructional practice in the nation’s
classrooms.
Dr. Tyson routinely teaches students, parents, teachers, curriculum
specialists, and administrators empowering ways to use technology with an emphasis on making the classroom transparent and
making our world a better place. He can often be heard saying “If
using these tools isn’t fun and empowering, then I have accomplished my personal goal for you!” He has been quoted in USAToday and quoted or featured in a variety of professional magazines
and journals.”
You can visit the Mabry site at the following link...
LINK: http://mabryonline.org/
Watch the UCET website’s conference section. Soon there will be
registration links and more information. We look forward to another great conference, and hope that you will join us.
The launch of portfoliogen.com represents the much anticipated
development of the first absolutely free online service for teachers
to create their own customized portfolio web pages. Registered
users receive their own URL web address allowing them to share
their credentials with prospective employers, principals, professors,
and peers.
Portfolio Generation was developed by teachers for teachers to
allow them to display their skills beyond the conventional paperbased portfolios used today. This free service gives teachers a
simple way to create their own professional looking web page
without having to be a web developer.
Portfolio Generation is looking forward to allowing school districts
to search for qualified teachers who are open to being contacted
on the site as well as providing these districts with email alerting
when new portfolios meeting their search criteria are created.
Learn more about Portfolio Generation by visiting:
Link:
http://www.portfoliogen.com
Educational Uses of Cellphones
Link:
http://polleverywhere.com
How would your classroom change if you asked students to “take
out their cellphones” rather than demanding them to put their
phones away? There are a lot of great ways to use the cellphone as
a teaching tool - recorder, data collector, reference tool, etc. One of
my new favorite sites is www.polleverywhere.com. Here you can
create live poll questions for your students and receive their responses through text messaging for free. That’s right, students text
their answers and you can see the responses in real time. Imagine
how you can encourage students to think about an everyday device as an educational tool. Too Cool!
See illustration at left.
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Stanza - Free (Beta) - Read e-Texts in Many Formats
Introducing Stanza — the digital eBook reader for the Mac that
reads like the real thing. Stanza combines the easy-to-read format
of the printed word with the convenience of the digital world.
Featuring a clean, well-organized interface, Stanza is expressly
designed for reading digital publications, including electronic
books, newspapers, PDFs, and general web content. Stanza is built
from the ground up to make reading on your Macintosh laptop or
desktop an enjoyable and hassle-free experience. It gives special
attention to details that are usually overlooked in other software
readers such as hyphenation, text columnation, automatic text
scrolling, and user-friendly page and chapter navigation. Lengthy
content that can be tedious to read using a web browser or PDF
viewer is easy and natural with Stanza.
Stanza features built-in support for HTML, PDF, Microsoft Word,
and Rich Text Format reading, as well as all the major eBook standards: unprotected Amazon Kindle and Mobipocket, Microsoft LIT,
Palm doc, and the International Digital Publishing Forum’s new
epub Open eBook standard. In addition to supporting a plethora
of formats, Stanza features an open API that allows developers
to implement support for their own document formats. Stanza is
more than just a reader: it is a reading platform!
Stanza supports a variety of text “layouts” to suit the tastes of
different readers and different reading styles. In addition to the default multi-column format that closest simulates a novel or newspaper on your screen — which studies have found to be the most
pleasant experience for the largest number of readers — Stanza
features a single-column layout that automatically scrolls vertically at a user-adjustable rate, allowing you to read your content
without having to navigate manually at all.
Vertical scrolling is useful not only for consuming large bodies of
text very quickly but also for presentations where a teleprompterstyle of display is desired. It is also ideal for readers with disabilities
who may have difficulty advancing between pages using the keyboard or mouse.
Combined with Stanza’s full-screen mode,
vertical text scrolling is the simplest possible
reading interface for children, the elderly,
or anyone with difficulty using a computer.
And all of Stanza’s layouts feature the ability
to dynamically increase the font size, which
comes in handy for people with partial vision
impairments.
Stanza can also export to MobiPocket,
enabling you to use the popular MobiPocket
Reader to read your exported book on your
Blackberry, PocketPC, Palm OS, Nokia Series
60, Sony Ericsson UIQ, and many other
mobile devices. You no longer need to carry
a large stack of books with you on your summer vacation. Just load up your phone or
mobile device with months of reading, and
enjoy a lightweight summer of reading bliss!
Stanza is also the first program that has a
built-in export feature especially for the
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Amazon Kindle. Your PDFs, Word documents, and other eBooks can
all be exported to the Kindle’s native format and copied over to the
device using a USB cable. Get a paper-quality reading experience
for all your electronic documents with this innovative new device!
Last, but not least, Stanza has an experimental new feature that
allows you to export your books to MP3 audiobooks. Your entire
audiobook can then be added to iTunes and synchronized with
your iPod or other digital music player. This technology enables the
blind and visually impaired to enjoy a wealth of electronic documents.
Stanza is in beta at this writing, and free. The application will eventually go commercial, with the company thinking the price would
be around $15.
Link:
http://www.lexcycle.com/
Stanza - Free - Read eTexts on Your iPod Touch or iPhone
Reading on a bulky desktop or on a laptop with limited battery
life is not for everyone. That’s why Stanza features the ability to
export your reading material to a wide array of formats that can be
read on your mobile device. Our native iPhone/iPod Touch Stanza
application (available for free from the Apple App Store) can share
books with Stanza Desktop wirelessly, so you can take your books
on the road and read them wirelessly — no internet connection
required!
I downloaded Stanza on my 8GB iPod Touch, and it works wonderfully. I was able to download many free books from with my iPod
Touch connected to my home WiFi network. I also was able to convert a number of documents using the desktop Stanza application,
and share them with my iPod Touch wirelessly. This is an impressive product that opens the whole world of e-texts to your iPhone
or iPod Touch using the iPhone 2.0 software update. See illustrations on this page for screenshots of the iPod Touch Stanza app.
Announcing a new free resource site for teachers, Annie’s
Resource Attic!
To go there, click this link: http://annbrundigestudio.com or paste the link
into your browser address line.
I’m Ann Brundige. Most of you know me in connection with Learning Magic, Inc. and some may remember all the way back to when
I was an editor for HyperStudio Journal. I left Learning Magic last
fall, needing time to get some rest and take care of some family
concerns. At the beginning of this year, I went back to my computer, fired up with the idea for this web site. In the following months,
I’ve been preparing new materials and building the site, and now
it’s ready to go! There are activities, tips, and materials to download. All are free and always will be! There are also information links
I hope will be valuable for teachers.
and so on.
I can be more flexible, too. One result is that I’ll be posting each
activity in as many formats as possible. Typically, this will include a
Clicker 5 version and a paired test in Cloze Pro, an IntelliTools Classroom Suite version with some kind of review or test, a My Own
Bookshelf version paired with a Test Me Score Me comprehension
component, and a printable PDF version. I’m also experimenting
with versions in PowerPoint. Often there will be bonus off-computer materials and/or collections of clip art and photos related to that
activity set. My goal is to make these available to you no matter
which software you have. If you have more than one of these applications, you may find that you can use several versions, in order
to best serve specific students.
I now can take the time to make sure everything is as perfect as
possible, and I have more leeway in creating tips, templates, and
even entire workshops. Helping people use these multimedia applications has always been important to me,
and it’s a pleasure to be able to do more of it. So I’m
expecting to have a great deal of fun and satisfaction
creating things for this site.
When you take a look at the web site, scroll down and
look at all the links on the menu, which is located in a
sidebar on the right. You’ll see the titles of the newest posts first, then some information pages, and next
a bunch of category names. These will help you find
activities by subject, level, and the applications needed
to run them. Clicking on a category link brings up excerpts from all the posts that fit that category, and you
can click any title to go to the full description and its
downloads. Notice that there are links to How-to’s (tips
and workshops) and materials (clip art, photos, etc) as
well as activities.
There are three buttons under that. You can use them
to contact me, or to bookmark the site in your browser
home page. There’s also a button marked “Subscribe”.
If you choose that, you can add a section on your custom home page (Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc.) which will
have the newest posts on Annie’s Resource Attic in the
form of headlines, just like CNN :) These will update automatically. You can keep up with new posts and click
to go directly to an activity that looks interesting. And I
won’t have to send out so many of these letters!
If you’re wondering why I’m doing this, it’s because now that I’m
“retired” I can do whatever I want. What I want to do is to create
multimedia educational materials, and have them used in the
classroom. To have them used, teachers, AT specialists, and other
professionals who work with students need to be able to find them
and download them. The result is Annie’s Resource Attic.
I’ve found much to like about this non-commercial format. I can
be more creative, since I don’t have to be concerned with mass
marketing. If I post a tip that one teacher uses, or an activity that
happens to be just right for some special student, it’s worth doing.
But I think most of what I post will have wide application. That will
include free materials such as photo collections, clip art collections,
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One last thing I want to mention is that you can add
comments to the activity pages. If you download an
activity and find ways to customize it for particular
students, post a comment and share your idea with others. If you
download materials such as sounds, animations, or photos, and
come up with a great way to use them, share that, too. My hope
is that Annie’s Resource Attic will become a community where we
can pool our ideas, tricks, and techniques.
So visit the Attic often, look for treasures, and leave some new ones
for others to find. I’ll meet you there!
--Ann-- P.S. Please note my new email address. Thanks!
[email protected]
What2Learn
SeisMac 2.0
Please take a look at the following free online interactive game
generator...
SeisMac is a Mac OS X application that turns your MacBook or
MacBook Pro into a seismograph. It access your laptop’s Sudden
Motion Sensor in order to display real-time, three-axis acceleration
graphs. Version 2.0’s enhancements make SeisMac an even more
valuable tool for classroom demonstrations of seismic concepts
and techniques.
http://www.what2learn.com/games
It allows teachers to quickly and easily create a range of effective,
fun and colorful learning games including hangman, quizzes, interactive wordsearches and anagram games. All you need to do is
fill in your questions and answers and a webpage with your game
is instantly made. The page can then be bookmarked or linked to
so it can be used with your classes whenever you want. It has also
been found very effective to get students to create their own learn-
The resizable, real-time scrolling display shows an enormous
amount of acceleration information. Place your laptop on a table
and see the seismic waves from tapping your toe on the floor. Lay
your laptop on your chest and see your heartbeat. And of course, if
there is a real earthquake, SeisMac will
be displaying full
seismic information
while you drop,
cover and hold-on.
Version 2.0 of SeisMac includes many
new features:
•Pause the display
to study an event
•Scroll back in
time to see older
data
•Time labels tell
exactly when an event occurred
•Enlarge or contract the graph, both vertically and horizontally
•Copy, print or save the screen
•Adjust the sample rate from 10 to 500 samples per second
•Smooth the acceleration data
•“Out of Range” arrow appears when the graph goes off the
screen
•Runs on non-SMS machines using test data
ing games to develop and demonstrate their understanding.
It has been designed and tested in schools to make it as safe to use
as possible. It filters for profanities and any game deemed offensive
in any way can be immediately banned.
When running on the MacBook or MacBook Pro, SeisMac has a
range of plus or minus two gravities of acceleration, displaying 256
values per gravity, sampled up to five hundred times per second
for each axis. SeisMac is also compatible with older Sudden Motion
Sensor-equipped iBooks and PowerBooks.
For better accuracy, you can use SeisMaCalibrate to calibrate your
laptop’s Sudden Motion Sensors.
The main system (www.what2learn.com) provides totally free
access to over 1,400 ready-made interactive learning games. The
main system has the added advantage of recording student scores
in each activity, thus enabling students, teachers and parents to
monitor progress. The main system has been developed with the
UK edcuation system in mind, but most of the content will be
relevant anywhere.
SeisMac is based on SMSLib, my open-source Sudden Motion Sensor access library.
I hope you will add the resource. What2Learn has been 4 years in
the making and has had a very positive impact on thousands of
students already.
You can also view SeisMac’s help files here..
Kind regards, John Rutherford - [email protected]
SeisMac is freeware. You can download version 2.0 (Mac OS X 10.4
or later) at...
Link:
Link:
http://www.suitable.com/tools/SeisMacHelp/index.html
If you’d like to be notified about future versions of SeisMac, sign up
for their mailing list.
Link:
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http://www.suitable.com/tools/download/SeisMac.dmg
http://www.suitable.com/tools/seismac.html
dotSUB - Video Subtitling in Multiple Languages
dotSUB is a browser based tool enabling subtitling of videos on
the web into and from any language. There is nothing to buy and
nothing to download. Recognizing the potential of global communication powered by the Internet, the founders of dotSUB created a
web-based tool that enables video to be accessed in an open, collaborative, “wiki” type environment. The dotSUB tool gives anyone
the ability to translate video content into multiple languages via
subtitles rendered over the bottom of the video.
The idea of dotSUB was born in early 2004 after viewing the film
“Fahrenheit 911.” Michael Smolens, Founder and CEO of dotSUB,
realized that if one documentary film in English might have an impact on a very close US Presidential election, what would happen
if all independent and documentary films, television programming
and video from all cultures could be made available in all languages - what a powerful impact on the world that would be!
The goal was to create a tool that was as simple to use as the
Google search bar, with no downloads, that could engage the power, methodologies and thinking of open source, wikipedia, social
networking, creative commons and web2.0 user involvement to
substantially remove language and cost as a barrier to cross-cultural communication using video.
It took three years to create the tool and process, and now dotSUB
is integrating its functionality with businesses and organizations in
all fields - for anyone using video as an internal or external communication tool. The “perfect storm” unleashed by the purchase
Page 6
of YouTube by Google for $1.65 billion has set in motion a frenzy
in traditional media companies, as well as a plethora of startups, to figure out how to monetize video in English (or its native
language). dotSUB is creating the ability and global network to
re-purpose this content into all of the world’s languages at a cost
approaching an order of magnitude less than using traditional
tools and methods.
Subtitling Demonstration
http://dotsub.com/demo.jsp
Just jump in!
You can start playing the video on the right and the English subtitles will be displayed. Enter words in any language after clicking
on a line to translate. Press enter to save your changes and move
to the next line. To encourage playing with our technology, you
may enter “gibberish” if you wish. Just press play and you will then
see the new film subtitles, as you just entered them, playing on the
right screen. Voila! That’s all there is to it.
dotSUB User Registration: Please enter your user information in
the form. Registration is not necessary if you want to watch videos
or if you just want to practice dotSUB’ing in any language. We do
require you to register on the site if you want to have your video
subtitled, or if you want to contribute to the subtitling of any video
in any language. Registration is free and we will not share your
sensitive information with anyone.
Link:
http://dotsub.com
Create Your Own Forms and Surveys Free with GoogleDocs
Managing All Your Usernames & Passwords on a Mac
Google Docs spreadsheet is introducing a new feature in its otherwise useful functionalities. Google spreadsheet now lets users create web-based forms. This is useful for soliciting sign ups, surveys,
or any other things where you would need other people’s opinions
and inputs.
“You can use keychains to reduce the number of passwords you
have to keep track of. A keychain can store all your passwords
for applications, servers, and websites; cryptographic keys and
X509 certificates; or even sensitive information unrelated to your
computer, such as credit card numbers or personal identification
numbers (PINs) for bank accounts.
The good thing about this spreadsheet forms is that it doesn’t matter whether users are signed in or not in their Google account. They
can directly reply to the email sent by Google Docs, or they can be
redirected to an automatically generated web page where they
can key-in their answers to the forms.
Responses to the forms sent are automatically added to the Google
spreadsheet where the form was created. So, monitoring responses
can be easily done. To make it easier, the Google Docs forms
gadget can be added to the iGoogle homepage, as a widget. New
responses to the form are highlighted when it is embedded on the
iGoogle homepage. Now, that’s what I call uber neat!
To use this new feature, start by creating a form which will then
generate the corresponding spreadsheet or vice versa. Either way
would generate the same cool web-based forms which we can all
peruse for whatever means that we fancy.
Once you share the form by email, you can easily view all participant responses. This would have some great uses in an educational setting. You need to go check this one out...
Link:
http://www.google.com/google-d-s/intl/en/tour1.html
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When you connect to a network server, open an email account, or
access any password-protected item that works with keychains,
your keychain can provide the password so you don’t have to type
it.
You start with a single keychain named “login” which is your default
keychain, and is created automatically the first time you log in to
your Mac OS X user account and has the same password as your
account. This keychain is unlocked automatically when you log in
to your account.
You can create new keychains to store passwords for different
purposes (for example, one for work and one for online shopping),
or you can make a copy of a keychain to take with you to other
computers.
Keychains can be accessible to just a single user, or shared with the
other users of the computer. “ (Mac Help file)
You can learn more about Keychains in your Mac Help documentation. Just go to the Finder and use the Help menu. The Keychain
application is located in your Utilities folder inside your Applications folder.
Students lured to cash in through summer program
by Chris Casey - http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/2008752143426
Used with Permission
Teenagers who struggle in school and generally distrust authority are lining up outside the red brick walls of Kepner Hall at the
University of Northern Colorado each morning.
Most teachers would classify these boys as ‘hard cases.’ Most of
them are on criminal probation and all lag several grade levels
behind their peers in math and English.
Yet in late June, 20 of them show up to study for eight hours a day
on computers in Kepner’s basement in a new tutorial program. A
key initial draw was money -- the program offers cash for each level
they pass -- but now they’re coming because it’s something to do,
plus they’re learning and even helping each other learn.
“I’m amazed. I’m shocked,” Suzette Luster says of the 95 percent
attendance rate as the nine-week tutorial for Greeley Central High
School freshmen and sophomores enters its fourth week.
Luster heads up the Student Recovery Program, a pilot program
launched by local businessman Bob Tointon along with pilot school
Greeley Central and UNC’s office of enrollment and retention.
manager, visited students’ homes a few days after school let out to
remind them of the program, which is free to participants. Some of
the boys were already bored with summer break.
Plus, “these parents wanted their kids to do well,” Luster said. “Some
of them just don’t know how to get them there.”
Each week an adult speaker talks with the boys -- all Latino -- about
constructive ways to break out of the cycle of truancy and underachievement. Luster said the academic gap at Central is part of a
nationwide crisis in kids falling behind.
“There’s so many kids who need someone in their corner,” she said.
“This is just scratching the surface of the kids who need help.”
She said laziness isn’t the problem. Most of the teens have fallen
behind academically and are now frustrated by school.
Back at school next fall, Luster said, the Central boys will continue
to study together, building on this summer’s curriculum.
For now, Salazar enjoys the sense of accomplishment.
“The way the program explains everything is easier to understand
(than regular school),” he said. “I get distracted easy and get off
task. The way the computer explains things helps you more.”
Tointon and his wife, Betty, kicked in half the money for the
$50,000 program, and several other local businesses contributed.
Student Recovery is patterned after a similar program launched
by businessman Ed McVaney in Denver.
The 20 Greeley boys are among the lowest-performing, lowestattending students at Central -- “at-risk” kids in education
parlance. The program uses computerized lessons that guide
students through math and language lessons, allowing Luster
and other participating Central teachers to customize instruction
if they get stuck on concepts.
For each completed “chapter” -- a grade-level’s worth of content,
correlating with Colorado state standards -- the boys earn $50.
Mike Salazar, Juan Salgado and Uriel Juarez, all 15, have each
earned $100 so far. They got the cash for making two grade-level
gains in math or language arts.
“I started in third-grade in math and now I’m up to fifth grade,”
Juarez said. He’s discovered he learns much better by taking
notes during lessons.
Salazar rides 45 minutes each way on a city bus to get to Kepner,
where students also get breakfast and lunch each day. If he wasn’t
in the program, he said, “I’d be doing stuff I’m not supposed to do.
Plus, being on probation, that would get me in even more trouble.”
Dominic Griego, 15, left, works on a math problem with instructor
Ken Magruder on Tuesday during the Student Recovery Program
in Kepner Hall on the University of Northern Colorado campus in
Greeley. The program is nine weeks and is for freshmen and sophomores at Greeley Central who are behind in school.
Salazar said the cash reward was the main draw, but now “it’s worth
it to come in every day and pass your levels.”
BRET HARTMAN/[email protected]
The boys said they wish regular school was like the program, which
has a waiting list and will likely expand to include the other two
large Greeley high schools next year. Although they joke about “no
chicks” in the classroom, the boys admit girls would be a distraction.
Greeley Central High School and Colorado Save our Youth utilizes
CompassLearning software for its at-risk programs. To learn more
about how CompassLearning can assist your school or district in
personalizing learning opportunities for all students, please contact Sara McDaniel, UT Account Associate, at 870-918-4092 or
Luster said the Central teachers, plus the school’s truancy case
Page 8
[email protected]
ISTE Hosts Education Track of Second Life Conference
ISTE Technology in practice webinar series presents:
You’ve heard the buzz about Second Life as an educational and
networking tool. Now’s your chance to see for yourself, and you
can do it from the comfort of your own cubicle or home computer.
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®), the
main education sponsor for the Second Life Community Convention, invites visitors to virtually attend this free, three-day event.
The real-life conference happens Sept. 5-7, 2008, in Tampa, Fla.
Introduction to Geocaching
ISTE Island, the virtual home of ISTE, will serve as headquarters for
the education track of the conference. Visitors to the island will be
able to experience many of the real world activities, such as keynote addresses, streaming live.
With more than 1,000 participants, the Second Life Community
Convention has evolved into a multi-track, juried program, with
education and business serving as the two main tracks. ISTE, the
lead sponsor of the educational track, will join with co-sponsors
Global Kids, Cornell University, Rockcliffe University, and other
education organizations, to bring together real life participants
with virtual attendees. The program will include in-world activities,
peer-reviewed sessions and experiential events.
To learn more about the educational track of the Second Life Community, go to http://sledcc.wikispaces.com. For general information on
the convention, go to http://www.slconvention.org. To learn more about
ISTE’s pioneering program in Second Life, visit http://www.iste.org/
secondlife/.
About ISTE: The International Society for Technology in Education
(ISTE) is the trusted source for professional development, knowledge generation, advocacy and leadership for innovation. ISTE is
the premier membership association for educators and education
leaders engaged in improving teaching and learning by advancing
the effective use of technology in PK-12 and teacher education.
Home of the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS),
the Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology (CARET), and the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC),
ISTE represents more than 100,000 professionals worldwide. We
support our members with information, networking opportunities
and guidance as they face the challenge of transforming education.
Visit www.iste.org to learn more about ISTE and its new initiatives —
including the next generation of NETS for Students, Teachers and
Administrators.
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•Wednesday, September 24, 2008
•1 pm Pacific / 2 pm Mountain / 3 pm Central / 4 pm Eastern
•Alice Christie, Presenter
A pressing challenge for educators is to use technology to help
students take ownership for learning and develop the practical and
critical thinking skills necessary to understand the world around
them. Teachers can meet this challenge by using an emerging technology tool, GPS receivers, and an emerging GPS-based activity,
geocaching, to transform their classrooms from teacher-centered
environments to exciting, empowering, exploratory environments
that focus on student engagement in the learning process.
Join ISTE to discover how GPS units and geocaching can be used as
multidisciplinary, inquiry-driven, field-based tools useful across the
curricula to instill in students a curiosity about geography, science,
mathematics and the world in which they live.
Learn strategies, see examples, and experience the fun and challenge of geocaching to engage active learning.
About the Presenter
Dr. Alice Christie provides professional development resources
and services for educators locally, nationally and internationally.
Her primary focus is on using technology to enhance teaching and
learning in K–12 and university settings. She shares her enthusiasm and energy, insights and ideas, and love of learning through
workshops, presentations, and keynote addresses. With over forty
years of experience as a K-12 and university educator, Dr. Christie is
an acclaimed and highly respected teacher and presenter. She was
recently recognized as one of four Arizona State University President’s Professors characterized by ASU President Michael Crow as
“extraordinary teachers and scholars, engaging students both in
and outside the classroom, and bringing innovation to their teaching as well as to their research.”
http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ProfessionalDevelopment/
WebinarSeries/20082009Webinars/Intro_to_Geocaching.htm
Link:
Copyright © 2008 International Society for Technology in Education. Reprinted with permission. ISTE members have special
reprint permissions. To support our work, consider joining ISTE as a
member. Visit www.iste.org/join for more information.
Hurricane Season - Resources
NOAA
NOAA is an agency that enriches life through science. Their reach
goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as
they work to keep citizens informed of the changing environment
around them.
From daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings and climate
monitoring to fisheries management, coastal restoration and supporting marine commerce, NOAA’s products and services support
economic vitality and affect more than one-third of America’s gross
domestic product. NOAA’s dedicated scientists use cutting-edge
research and high-tech instrumentation to provide citizens, planners, emergency managers and other decision makers with reliable
information they need when they need it.
NOAA’s roots date back to 1807, when the Nation’s first scientific
agency, the Survey of the Coast, was established. Since then, NOAA
has evolved to meet the needs of a changing country. NOAA maintains a presence in every state and has emerged as an international
leader on scientific and environmental matters.
Link:
http://www.noaa.gov/
The Weather Channel
Since 1982, The Weather Channel has brought timely weather
information to the world. Beginning as a 24-hour, 7 day television network devoted entirely to weather, it has expanded across
several mediums to bring the breaking weather to its viewers and
users.
Internet: Consistently rated in the Top Five for News, Entertainment, and Information web sites by Media Metrix (formerly PC
Meter), our Internet web site at www.weather.com features current
conditions and forecasts for over 77,000 locations worldwide,
along with local and regional radars.
Many maps and other features available on the domestic cable
television are also at one’s fingertips, along with weather-related
news, educational material, a weather glossary, a storm encyclopedia, and seasonal features.
Link:
http://www.weather.com
NASA’s Hurricane Center
NASA provides a great deal of information about hurricanes on its
website...
Link:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/main/index.html
Here you can get news, multimedia, satellite views, general background information, teaching materials, and more. NASA has developed several educational tools including posters, graphics, and
classroom activities on hurricanes. In one section, educators can
now bring NASA hurricane expert Dr. Jeffrey Halverson into their
classroom! This web page contains 35 separate, 1-4 minute long,
video segments that were derived from a live interactive professional development event that used Internet2. The lecture, which
took an in-depth look at the life cycle of hurricanes, used myriad
scientific visualizations made from NASA satellite imagery.
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UEN Professional Development
If you are looking for free, high quality
professional development opportunities
- UEN Professional Development is the
place.
UEN’s new Course Schedule is now available. Search the course catalog, find the
class that meets your needs, and register
online. It’s quick and easy!
Here’s a quick view of what’s happening this fall. To actually view the course
descriptions and to register, please visit
UEN at...
http://profdev.uen.org/pdms/register/view_
course_by_month
Link:
More than 12,000 multimedia items
now in eMedia
105 episodes of Bill Nye: The Science Guyare now available for download at eMedia.
Now you’ve got more multimedia resources than ever before, and they’re all free to
registered Utah Educators. UEN’s Digital
Media Service has more than doubled with
the addition of thousands of items from
the Utah Collections Multimedia Encyclopedia.
Educators can now choose from more
than 12-thousand video clips, photos and
articles.
Types of downloadable media now available at UEN’s Digital Media Service:
•video clips
•royalty-free music
•photographs
•postcards
•maps
•audio podcasts
•articles
Link:
http://pioneer-library.org
Page 11
National Student/Parent Mock Election to Give Students a
Voice in 2008 Election
“Students Can Register Now at http://www.nationalmockelection.org to
Cast Presidential Ballots on October 30
(CSRwire) WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Students of all
ages -- from kindergarten through college -- will be joining the
National Student/Parent Mock Election (NSPME) to vote for their
candidates of choice on October 30, five days before eligible
students and the rest of America select the next President of the
United States. This national voter-education program for students
and their parents gives young Americans the chance to make their
voices heard in the electoral process. Every U.S. student, parent and
educator is invited to participate free of charge at www.nationalmockelection.org.
“In the classrooms of today are our future Presidents, members
of Congress, governors and judges -- but most importantly, these
young people are the voters of tomorrow,” said NSPME President
Gloria Kirshner. “Whether we are sending these children to the
White House or to the polls, we hope to give them a deep understanding of ‘government of the people, by the people, and for the
people.’”
Kirshner said that with support from the 2008 campaign partners
and collaborators -- Google, the National Association of Broadcasters’ Education Foundation, the educational publisher Pearson, USA
TODAY, Declare Yourself, Strong American Schools, and School
Perceptions -- this year’s Mock Election campaign is significantly
expanding its offerings of educational materials for America’s
Page 12
classrooms.
Kirshner added that through the extensive outreach resources of
the campaign partners, she hopes to increase the number of Mock
Election voters from four million in the last presidential election to
many more young people and their parents this October 30. She
noted that for the first time in the 28-year history of the Mock Election, two elementary, two middle schools and two high schools
will receive a special award for highest participation levels--a visit
to their school of an original copy of the Declaration of Independence, provided by the Declare Yourself youth voting organization
with funding from the Pearson Foundation.
Google will host the National Student/Parent Mock Election Night
headquarters at its offices in Washington, D.C., where student
volunteers will tabulate the final results of the mock ballots cast
by elementary through college students across the nation and in
American schools overseas. Results of the NSPME will be posted on
www.nationalmockelection.org on October 30.
“The Mock Election gives students of all ages and their parents the
opportunity to vote for president, members of Congress from their
own state and districts, and governors of their states when there is
a contested race,” said Kirshner. She added, “In so doing, they learn
many valuable lessons, foremost of which is what they can hope to
contribute to our democracy by voting.””
The source for text above, and to read the entire article, please visit:
http://www.csrwire.com/News/13028.html
Contact: Gloria Kirshner or Kate Miller at 800-745-8489
www.ucet.org
Member Newsletter for October 2008
Welcome to October’s UCET Newsletter!
It’s the wonderful month of October. Halloween, Columbus Day,
UEA, autumn leaves crunching underfoot. A wonderful time to be
alive! We have some real treasures for you this month. You’ll read
about a free open-source planetarium software package called
Stellarium. You’ll find how you can create your own graph paper
online and receive a PDF version of it you can print from and save
for later use. We’ll introduce you to HotChalk, a web 2.0 site for
teachers that allows them to set up classes, gradebooks, communications, and more. Have you ever wished for a stickie note application for your Windows PC? Keep reading.
For you music teachers, we’ll show you where you can download
high quality PDF files of nearly any kind of music notation paper
you could wish for. As well, we’ll show you some great music notation fonts you can download and use on your computer.
UEN has a full slate of professional development workshops you
can participate in. We’ll share those with you. There are grants, opportunities, contests, and more.
Page 1
NASA has some great things happening this month, too. On October 14, 2008, astronauts will board the Space Shuttle Atlantis for
Servicing Mission 4 (SM4), the final trip to the Hubble Telescope.
Over the course of five spacewalks, they will install two new instruments, repair two inactive ones, and perform the component
replacements that will keep the telescope functioning at least into
2014. The effort-intensive, rigorously researched, exhaustively tested mission also involves diverse groups of people on the ground
throughout the country. In conjunction with the upcoming space
shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA Education
has launched a new Web site with resources for educators.
Join educators and space enthusiasts around the world to celebrate World Space Week, Oct. 4-10, 2008. This international event
commemorates the beginning of the Space Age with the launch
of Sputnik 1 on Oct. 4, 1957.
http://www.worldspaceweek.org/index.html
Earth Science Week 2008 will be celebrated from Oct. 12-18. The
theme for this year’s celebration is “No Child Left Inside.” This
celebration encourages young people to learn about the geosciences by getting away from the television, off the computer
and out of doors. Read on to learn more about all these
exciting educational opportunities. (Picture courtesy of
http://www.sxc.hu/)
Free - Post-it Notes for PCs
Enhance Your Teaching Practice with HotChalk
All you Macintosh users are familiar with Stickies - a small application allows you to put electronic Post-it . Now there’s a freeware PC
version of stickies!
HotChalk is designed to make a teacher’s life easier by providing an
online learning management system with a rich library of content.
Deploy the system in the classroom and provide a daily resource
for students and parents to drive academic results.
Link:
http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/index.html
From his website: “Stickies is a PC utility I wrote to try to cut down
on the number of Post-It® notes I was leaving stuck to my monitor.
It is a computerised version of those notes.
The design goal behind Stickies is that the program is small and
simple. Stickies will not mess with your system files, or write to the
registry. Stickies stores information in a single text-based ini file.
Stickies will never support animated dancing figures, or play
“Greensleeves”. They are instead yellow rectangular windows onto
which you can put some text notes. Once created, they will stay
on screen until you take them away. Just like a real sticky piece of
paper.
Main features:
•Once on screen, stickies will remain where placed until closed,
even through reboots
•Stickies appearance can be customised; fonts, colours and buttons may be changed, and styles saved. Stickies can be resized.
•Stickies can snap to each other and to the sides of the screen
to keep them neatly lined up
•Stickies can be attached to a web site, document or folder so
they only show when it’s on screen
•Stickies can be transferred from one machine to another either
over a TCP/IP network connection, or by using an SMTP mail
server or MAPI client:
•
Hierarchical friends list, which may be automatically
transferred from other friends
•
Play a sound file on receive
•
Signature for transmitted or emailed stickies
•
Favourite friends, and custom lists can be made
•Stickies can be hidden for a certain period, until a specified
date and time, or to wake every day, week or month, to act as
reminders.
•Stickies can have alarms set to ensure you notice them at a
point you choose
•Stickies can be transferred to and from your Palm or PPC PDA.
•International language and RTL text support
•Stickies works with Windows Vista
•Stickies is small and simple, it writes to a single text file, and
does not alter the registry
•AD network
administrators
can use Group
Policy to control settings
•API to allow integration with
other applications
•...and Stickies
is completely
free!”
Page 2
HotChalk enables you to automate administrative tasks so you
have more time to focus on teaching. In fact, HotChalk claims to
have proven that teachers can reduce teacher prep time from 45
minutes to 5 minutes.
HotChalk provides teachers with access to a vast digital library
of educational content aligned with standardized curriculums.
HotChalk content – including lesson plans, worksheets, textbooks,
articles and images, as well as a wide selection of video to enrich
curriculum for the YouTube Generation, are available in the MyLibrary portion of the site.
Enable your students to reach their full academic potential by
maintaining online communication and providing them with easy
Web access to classroom resources.
With HotChalk’s eLibrary, you can share materials with teachers
around the world – discover lesson plans, assignments, tests and
URLs to supplement your curricula.
Similar in many ways to Blackboard, HotChalk provides a free
alternative for teachers who don’t have access to this type of online
class management system. HotChalk’s online tools and community content are free. Premium content like NBC News video and
McGraw-Hill Education’s professional development courses require
a paid subscription after a free trial.
Link: http://www.hotchalk.com
Stellarium: Free Open-Source Planetarium Software for
Mac, Linux, and Windows
Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It
shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked
eye, binoculars or a telescope. It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.
features in version 0.9.1
sky
•default catalogue of over 600,000 stars
•extra catalogues with more than 210 million stars
•asterisms and illustrations of the constellations
•constellations for ten different cultures
•images of nebulae (full Messier catalogue)
•realistic Milky Way
•very realistic atmosphere, sunrise and sunset
•the planets and their satellites
•time control
•multilingual interface
•scripting to record and play your own shows
•fisheye projection for planetarium domes
•spheric mirror projection for your own dome
•graphical interface and extensive keyboard control
•elescope control
visualisation
•equatorial and azimuthal grids
•star twinkling
•shooting stars
•eclipse simulation
•skinnable landscapes, now with spheric panorama projection
customisability
•add your own deep sky objects, landscapes, constellation images, scripts...
interface
•a powerful zoom
Page 3
Link:
http://www.stellarium.org/
Free Graph Paper Creation Site from Incompetech
Link:
Although a very simple idea, it’s also a very useful one. Tools like
these make life easier for educators, and I salute the folks that make
these freely available.
http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/
The many types of graph papers you can create from the Incompetech site are shown below. Not only can you create regular grid
paper, but also graph papers using dots, cross grids, triangles,
rhombuses, octagons, and other geometric shapes. One great use
is to use these graph papers to allow your students to create art
designs using geometric shapes and forms.
Have you ever needed a piece of graph paper, but didn’t have one
around. Well, no more. The folks from Incompetech (I know, that’s
a funny name for a company) have made a wide range of graph
paper creation tools available online. All you do is click the type of
graph paper you need, then choose the parameters you wish, then
click the “Create PDF” button. You’ll immediately have a PDF file of
the graph paper downloaded to your computer. Print it out, and
save the file for later use.
I think you’ll really enjoy this site if you use grid paper much.
Free Plain Graph Paper from http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/plain/
For example, the dialog box above is for creating standard graph
paper. As you can see, you can pick a number of standard sizes,
as well as create your own custom sizes. You can choose grid size,
spacing, line weight, whether or not you want the major axes in
bold, and the color of the lines for the graph paper.
Page 4
Music Notation Papers - Free as High Quality PDF Files
Music Notation Fonts
dolmetsch online offers teachers a wide, wide range of music notation papers in the following categories:
Link:
http://www.music-notation.info/
Link:
http://www.music-notation.info/en/compmus/musicfonts.html
Link:
http://www.music-notation.info/en/compmus/musicfonts2.html
•Solo format
•Special large paper format
•Keyboard format
•Ensemble format
•Choral format
•Ensemble with keyboard format
•Ensemble with keyboard - special paper format
•Band format
•Plucked string format
•Orchestra format
•Ensemble/quartet format
•Bilinear manuscript paper
•Theory format
•And much more...
PDF is an excellent format for distributing print quality information
over the Internet. All the files listed on this site have been created
with standard Windows programs. The finished output has then
been printed to the JAWS pdf Creator virtual printer set to a minimum of 600 dpi. Because the resolution of computer monitors is
much lower than 600 dpi, the ‘on-screen’ quality will be poorer and
more variable than that on any modern printer. We recommend
that you always print these files rather than using them ‘on-screen’.
All these documents may be copied and used freely.
Link:
http://www.dolmetsch.com/manuscriptpaper.htm
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Page 5
Are you needing a special music notation font? Then you need to
check these fonts out. There are fonts for figured bass, another for
recorder fingering, another for rhythms, and many more.
As well as linking to the two font pages above, the first link also
will give you many other music resource links, such as audio to
midi programs, music notation codes for various programs, Optical
Music Recognition (OMR), music Braille, and more.
This site takes some time to explore all the resources linked there.
But I think you’ll find many of them to be useful.
Toyota Tapestry Grants will make $550,000 available for
Science Teachers
A partnership between Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. and the
National Science Teachers Association, the Toyota TAPESTRY Grants
for Science Teachers program offers grants to K–12 science teachers for innovative projects that enhance science education in the
school and/or school district. 50 large grants and a minimum of 20
mini-grants, totaling $550,000 in all, will be awarded this year. To
apply for funding, qualified teachers must write a Toyota TAPESTRY
proposal according to the proposal requirements. The deadline
for the completion of the online application is 11:59 p.m., Eastern
Standard Time, Wednesday, January 21, 2009.
Recipients of Toyota TAPESTRY grants will be notified by March 4,
2009. Non-recipients will be notified by May 31, 2009. Awardees
will be honored at a special ceremony on March 19, 2009 at the
NSTA National Conference on Science Education in New Orleans.
All travel expenses for Project Directors of the large grants will be
covered by Toyota.
Link:
http://www.nsta.org/pd/tapestry/index.htm
October Professional Development from UEN
Make the Most of Fall - Sign up now for these free professional development courses from UEN. The courses are taught in our stateof-the-art computer lab in Salt Lake. We’ll also bring these courses
to your school for five of more teachers.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Oct 3 & 10 - iLife Projects
Oct 7 & 14 - Podcasting
Oct 9 & 10 - Use Technology to Teach
Oct 14 - Make the Most of Your Mac
Oct 21 & 22 - Create Online Video Tutorials
Oct 23 & 24 - The GPS Classroom
Oct 28 & Nov 1 - Digital Video Projects
Oct 29 & 30 - PowerPoint for Teachers
Oct 31 - Google Sketch Up
UEN Free Professional Development courses are just one of the
teacher services we offer to help you fine tune your career. We’ve
just added two new services including Text Updates for your cell
phone and the UEN YouTube channel.
We also provide the weekly half-hour Faculty Lounge via the Web
and our popular Teacher Feature, an online site with photos, stories
and audio podcasts featuring Utah teachers.
Link:
http://profdev.uen.org/pdms/register/view_course_by_month
Page 6
The Gale/Library Media ConneCtion TEAMS Award
The Gale/Library Media ConneCtion TEAMS Award recognizes and
encourages the critical collaboration between the teacher and media specialist to promote learning, increase student achievement
and develop 21st century skills.
Three winners will receive: $2,500 (U.S.) cash award; Gale products
(approximate value $500 U.S.); a one-year subscription to Library
Media ConneCtion; and your choice of professional publications
from Linworth Books (approximate value $800 U.S.). In addition,
the winners will be featured in an article in Library Media ConneCtion in the 2009 school year.
A panel comprised of education industry professionals and Gale
staff will evaluate the nominations based on:
•Demonstrated collaboration between media specialists and
teachers during the 2008/09 school year
•Effective techniques that positively impact student learning
and achievement (State and National Standards)
•Support received from school leadership
•Ability for others to replicate this best practice
Awards will be presented at a special reception held in conjunction
with the American Association of School Librarians in 2009.
All K-12 public and private schools in the United States and Canada
are eligible to apply. Examples of the types of collaboration that
will be considered:
•Using libraries to spark interest in history
•Using simulation to cover complex material
•Working with agencies and societies to teach history
•Utilizing libraries to explore world cultures
Submission Requirements-The nomination may be submitted by
a library media specialist(s), teacher(s), principal(s), student(s) or
parent(s) at www.galeschools.com/TEAMS
All nominations must be postmarked by June 15, 2009.
There is no entry fee. However, each nomination must include six
(6) copies of:
•A completed submission form with appropriate attachments
•A one-page letter of recommendation from your school’s principal or assistant principal
•A signed release form (found at www.galeschools.com/TEAMS)
•A photograph of the collaborating media specialist/teaching
team
Link:
http://www.galeschools.com/pdf/TEAMS-form.pdf
NASA Launches New Hubble Web Site for Educators
In conjunction with the upcoming space shuttle mission to the
Hubble Space Telescope, NASA Education has launched a new Web
site with resources for educators.
The site celebrates Hubble as a unique tool of exploration and as
a catalyst of inspiration to wonder -- to ponder new questions and
to seek expressive responses to the magnificent visual imagery it
enables people to “see.” This site will continue to follow the Hubble
journey into 2010, Hubble’s 20th anniversary year.
Join NASA as preparations progress toward a fall 2008 launch of
the space shuttle Atlantis for the mission to service Hubble. When
the mission concludes, Hubble will be like a new telescope. New
gyroscopes and batteries will extend its operational lifetime. New,
more powerful and sensitive scientific instruments will increase
Hubble’s capacity to “see” deeper into space than ever before.
The Hubble educational resource site offers activities and resources
for three primary themes: Hubble Careers, From Galileo to the
Great Observatories, and the Hubble Walk: Spacesuits and Spacewalks. Revisit this Web site often throughout the next year for
updates and added activities, resources, links to complementary
sites, and notices of special events.
Link:
http://www.nasa.gov/education/hubble
Hubble L-1 Webcast
Tune in the day before the launch to learn what it takes to fly a
difficult servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Seven
astronauts will work in space aboard space shuttle Atlantis for 11
days to capture the orbiting observatory and install two cuttingedge instruments plus a host of equipment. After the crew of
Atlantis is finished, Hubble will be ready to complete at least five
more years studying the cosmos.
Hosted by Damon Talley of NASA’s Digital Learning Network and
Rebecca Sprague of NASA Public Affairs at Kennedy Space Center
in Florida, the L-1 webcast features interviews
with the crew, a Hubble astronomer and
up-close looks at all the work going into this
exciting mission.
For more information about this event, visit...
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/
shuttlemissions/sts125/launch/sts125_webcast.html
Link:
Announcing the 13th Annual IGES Art
Contest for Grades 2-4
Entries are currently being accepted for the
13th Annual Institute for Global Environmental Strategies Art Contest for students in
grades 2-4. This year’s theme is “Trees: Making
a World of Difference.” Participants are encouraged to learn how trees help to create a
healthy environment. The students then draw
a picture showing what they learned.
The contest is open to all U.S. citizens in
Page 7
grades 2-4. The winning entry will be used as the IGES holiday
e-card. The first-, second- and third-place artists will receive gift
cards. All entrants will receive a certificate of participation.
Entries are due on Oct. 24, 2008. For more information, visit...
http://www.strategies.org/education/index.aspx?sub=education&sub2=stu
dent&sub3=2008contest
Link:
If you have questions about this contest, please contact info@strate-
gies.org.
Technology in Motion 2: Community of the Future
$400,000 in video software and hardware
This grant program is designed for teachers to use in multimedia
courses as a structured curriculum to engage middle and high
school students (grades 6-12) in the tools and techniques of professional video and audio production. Under the Community of
the Future theme, students can share their vision of how technology will shape their neighborhoods in the years to come and are
encouraged to interact with their local city council, mayor, city employees, community centers, or other groups to create their film.
Contestants are required to use the provided Vegas Pro 8 software
to produce their videos, but all other creative details are up to the
students’ own creativity. Every school that submits a qualifying
“Call for Entries” form by Oct. 15, 2008, will receive film submission
guidelines and a Technology in Motion launch kit. The kit will be
mailed on December 1, 2008 and will include a free copy of Sony
Vegas Pro 8 Promotional Edition video editing software, a free
copy of Sony Cinescore Promotional Edition soundtrack creation
software, free Sony Vegas Pro and Sony Cinescore video tutorials,
1,001 royalty-free, motion picture sound effects, an assortment of
Cinescore themes for royalty-free soundtrack creation, and a free
electronic copy of the Vegas Pro 8 Digital Video & Audio Production
teaching guide. (eSchoolNews)
Link:
http://www.techinmotioncontest.com/
College.gov - Why, How, and
Where Should I Go to College?
college.gov is being built by the U.S.
Department of Education in collaboration with students. This site
is intended to be the go-to source
for information and resources about
planning, preparing and paying for
postsecondary education (such as
2- or 4-year colleges and universities,
and vocational or career schools).
Most importantly, college.gov is intended to provide inspiration and hope to all students, and encourage them to consider and pursue a postsecondary education.
In building this site, they asked students what information was
most useful as they look ahead toward college. Over time, this site
Page 8
will continue to evolve, and you can help influence that process
by visiting our contact page to submit questions, suggestions and
feedback.
Link: http://college.gov
The Jing Project - Capture Screenshots, Screen Video
Think of Jing as a supplement to all your chat discussions, email
threads, forum posts and blog entries. It sits nicely on your desktop,
ready to capture and share your stuff at a moment’s notice. Simply
select an area of your screen, capture it as an image or record it as a
video, and then click Share. Jing conveniently places a URL to your
content which you can paste into any of your conversations.
You can save a Jing capture to Screencast.com, a local folder, a network drive, a copy to your clipboard (images only), an FTP server, or
to Flickr.
TechSmith is pleased to announce that Jing is an official product
offering. Don’t worry, it’s still free. They are also including a complimentary Screencast.com account with 2 GB of storage and 2 GB
of transfer bandwidth per month. Of course, in an effort to address
your requests for additional features and alternative Jing models,
they will likely have premium (paid) versions available soon. Stay
tuned!
While there’s truth in describing Jing as a SnagIt or Camtasia Studio
“lite,” the key difference is about workflow. Jing is designed to be
fast-visual communication shared with others in a variety of locations. Capture. Annotate. Share.
By default, Jing records audio from the
microphone input. There are directions on the site on how to record
system audio with Jing as well. Just
remember that you can’t do both.
http://blog.jingproject.
com/2008/05/recording_system_audio_with_
ji_1.html
Link for Mac:
Link for Windows: http://blog.jingproject.
com/2008/05/recording_windows_system_audio.html
Another thing you may run into:
When I installed Jing, my Mcafee
Virus Protection complained that the
installer contained a trojan. On further
research, I found that this was a falsepositive, that Jing really doesn’t contain a trojan, and that TechSmith, the
makers of Jing, is working to resolve
this issue.
Jing has a superbly easy-to-use interface with some nice editing features,
such as adding comments, arrows,
etc. to your screen captures. It makes
a great tool for creating step-by-step
instructions on using computer programs, tutorials, and more.
The video captures are saved as Flash
SWF files.
Link:
http://jingproject.com/
Page 9
Using PDF as a PowerPoint-Like Presentation Tool
If you use Acrobat or Acrobat Reader, you might want to try this
as an alternative to PowerPoint. While you don’t get all the fancy
fades, wipes, or other transitions, you can use Acrobat or Reader to
do a full-screen presentation of a PDF file.
Once you’ve opened a PDF file in either of these two programs, ...
because it’s built right into the system. From any program that you
can print with, you’ll notice a PDF button down in the lower left
corner of the print dialog. Just click that, choose to create a PDF,
and tell the Macintosh where you want the file saved.
For Windows, PDF creation is not built into the system. However,
there are many free utilities that will give your PC the ability to
print to PDF just like the Macintosh. Check these out...
CutePDF:
http://www.cutepdf.com/
PDFCreator:
PrimoPDF:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
http://www.primopdf.com/
Once you’ve installed one of these, you’ll have a new “printer” in
your print dialog box. Choose it as the printer and you’ll be asked
how you want your PDF created, and where you want it saved on
your hard drive.
Such tools make it economically feasible to have PDF creation and
presentation available for every student in your classroom.
Shortcuts for Acrobat Full Screen Mode (I’m showing Windows
CTRL key shortcuts. Mac users substitute CTRL with the Command
key):
•CTRL-L - Enter full screen mode
•CTRL-+ - Zoom in on page (arrow keys then move around
page, and to the next page when you reach the bottom)
•CTRL-- (minus) - Zoom out
•CTRL-0 - Fit page to the Window
•Arrow keys move from page to page
•ESC - exits full screen mode
Choose View > Full Screen to make the PDF document fill the entire
monitor screen.
The characteristics of full-screen
documents are set through the
Full Screen Preferences dialog
box. (illustration at right)
The pointer remains active
during Full-Screen mode so
that you can click links and
open notes. Thumbnails and
bookmarks are not accessible in
Full-Screen mode.
Of course, Acrobat Reader is a
free download for most computer platforms, including Macintosh and Windows. You can
download Acrobat Reader at the
following link...
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
This becomes an especially
useful tool when you can create
your own PDF files. On a Macintosh using OSX, this is easy to do
Page 10
Earth Science Week - Oct. 12-18
Attention, Teachers! Earth Science Week Wants You
During Earth Science Week 2008 (Oct.
12-18), students will explore mines and
caves, sample groundwater, monitor
the weather, visit museums and science
centers, prepare science projects, and
conduct investigations. Leading them will
be teachers like you.
You’re encouraged to lead your own
celebration. Conduct an Earth science lab
activity, using one of the many activities on the Earth Science Week website
at http://www.earthsciweek.org. In the
process, you can heighten awareness of
the importance of Earth science education
to students’ informed decision making, responsible citizenship, and career success.
Remember, you need not work alone. Talk
with your school’s guidance counselor
about how a schoolwide celebration can
promote science literacy. Work with your
science supervisor, coordinator, and fellow
teachers to develop activities. Communicate to your principal, superintendent,
school board members, and PTA representative the importance of Earth science.
And collaborate with a nearby museum,
science center, geoscience company, or
civic group to organize local events.
For more ideas, go to http://www.earthsciweek.org. Or order your Earth Science
Week Toolkit, which includes a geoscience activity calendar, posters, brochures,
bookmarks, CDs and more. To order, visit http://www.earthsciweek.org/
materials/index.html
Field Notebook for Students Featured in 2008 Toolkit
Just one of dozens of educational materials in the Earth Science
Week 2008 Toolkit - from posters and calendars to activity books
and CDs - is the “No Child Left Inside” Field Notebook. But the Field
Notebook, made possible by contributions from USGS and Rite in
the Rain, is a special part of this year’s celebration.
Rite in the Rain, which manufactures full-size notebooks for fieldwork by professional geoscientists, has created this miniature Field
Notebook - with “all-weather writing paper” and charts on types of
clouds, soils, and geological map symbols - for Earth Science Week
2008 (October 12-18). By recording their observations and conclusions here, students get a taste of the work performed by professional geoscientists.
“No Child Left Inside,” the theme of Earth Science Week 2008, has
become a rallying cry for a growing movement. Efforts by government agencies and nonprofit groups - from USGS to the National
Park Service - are helping young people experience the joys of
Page 11
outdoor activity. Inspired by Richard Louv’s bestseller “Last Child
in the Woods,” these activities aim to curb what the author calls
“nature-deficit disorder” among America’s youth. Most recently, the
U.S. House of Representatives passed the
“No Child Left Inside” Act (HR 3036) on September 18, funding efforts to strengthen
environmental education.
For Earth Science Week 2008 Toolkit ordering, special shipping, bulk orders, and more
information, visit http://www.earthsciweek.org/
materials/index.html.
Kick Off the Fun on International EarthCache Day
Earth Science Week begins again this year
with International EarthCache Day on
Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008. Whether you’re a
teacher, a student, or just someone who
enjoys Earth science firsthand, EarthCaching provides a great way to kick off the
celebration.
EarthCaching is a variation of a recreational
activity known as geocaching. Typically,
a geocache organizer posts latitude and
longitude coordinates on the Internet to
advertise a “cache,” or scavenger-hunt destination, which geocachers locate by using
GPS devices. Today, more than 270,000
caches are active in over 200 countries,
according to Geocaching.com. The activity
has attracted over one million participants
worldwide.
EarthCachers have added an educational
dimension to the activity. When you visit an
EarthCache, you learn something special
about Earth science, the geology of the location, or how the Earth’s resources and environment are managed
there. EarthCaching has been developed by the Geological Society
of America - a major Earth Science Week partner - in association
with Groundspeak, Inc., and the geocaching community.
You are invited visit or establish an EarthCache in your area on
the second annual International EarthCache Day, Oct. 14. To learn
more, visit http://www.earthcache.org/.
Only a Short Time Left to Enter Earth Science Week Contests
With entries due near the end of Earth Science Week - Friday,
October 17 - science students and enthusiasts across the country
are busy completing submissions for the Earth Science Week 2008
essay, visual arts, and photography contests. Send yours today!
The photography contest, open to all ages, focuses on “Earth Science Beyond Your Front Door.” Whether you are a young person
yourself or an adult who works with youngsters, you can lead an
educational outdoor adventure. Show your geoscience excursion.
The visual arts contest is titled “Studying Our Earth.” Students
in grades K-5 are encouraged to draw, paint, or create a poster.
Artwork entries should be two-dimensional and no larger than 24-
by-36 inches. Show yourself as an Earth scientist using the inquiry
approach to answer a question in nature.
ate editor at each media outlet. Follow up with a phone call or an
e-mail.
Students in grades 6-9 may enter the essay contest: “Earth Connections.” Each one-page essay must be no longer than 300 words.
Discuss how various natural processes on the Earth are interconnected and how they affect each other where you live.
* Write letters to the editor for print in local newspapers and magazines. You might respond to a recent geoscience-related article
with a letter to the editor. If possible, schedule a meeting with the
editorial board. Or instead of a letter, perhaps write an opinion
editorial, or “op-ed,” to cite concerns and recommend solutions.
The contests offer opportunities for students and the public to
participate in the celebration, learn about the Earth sciences, and
compete for prizes. Each first-place winner receives $300 and a
copy of AGI’s “Faces of Earth” DVD set. To learn
more, visit http://www.earthsciweek.org/contests.
How to Put Your Event On ‘My Events Map’ Online
If you’re hosting an event during Earth Science
Week (October 12-18) for the public, you want
to let people know about it. The best way is to
post your event details on the new “My Events
Map” (http://www.earthsciweek.org/eventsnearyou/
index.html).
“My Events Map” provides clickable links to
Earth Science Week events taking place at
parks, museums, science and technology
centers, university geology departments, local
geological societies, and other nearby locations. Anyone can find the map online, click on
a nearby location, read a brief description of
the event - and even get driving directions!
To post your event on the map, please contact
AGI at [email protected]. Be sure to provide
a brief description of the event, the time and
date, and the street address. We’ll be happy to
direct Earth Science Week participants to your
event!
Shine a Media Spotlight On Your Great Activities
Energy! The environment! Natural hazards! Earth science is breaking news. Educators can take advantage of journalists’ interest in
geoscience to promote awareness of local Earth Science Week
activities. Here are five effective strategies:
* Plan a special event to draw attention to your Earth Science
Week activities. Conduct an investigation or experiment, invite a
prominent geoscientist to talk with students, host a ceremony or a
banquet, stage an event with a nearby museum or science center,
give awards to volunteers, or recognize geoscience enthusiasts
who have made a difference.
* Prepare a press release to alert the media about your Earth Science Week activities. Answer important questions, such as who,
what, where, when, and why. Include data and quotes from key
players. Provide contact information for followup. Print the release
on your letterhead and fax it to editors and reporters at least three
days before the event.
* Be persistent in pitching your story to local news organizations.
Besides noting the “hook” of Earth Science Week, show how your
activities address issues that are urgent, timely, and relevant to the
community. Write a brief, compelling query letter to the appropriPage 12
* Use available Earth Science Week materials in promoting awareness. In the Earth Science Week Toolkit and on the event website
are print and electronic materials
- poster, calendar, logo, and more
- that you can use to “brand” your
activity. Link your local activity to
the larger national celebration to
emphasize its significance.
AGI Thanks Its Generous Earth Science
Week Sponsors
Thanks to the generosity of sponsors, who support our education
outreach efforts, Earth Science
Week is able to promote awareness and appreciation of the
geosciences among millions of
people every year. AGI would like
to express its appreciation to the
many government agencies, nonprofit groups, and corporations
that make the program possible.
Earth Science Week couldn’t do its
important work without the support of organizations such as the
U.S. Geological Survey and the
AAPG Foundation. In addition,
year after year, Earth Science Week Toolkits are purchased in bulk
quantities for distribution to teachers by numerous organizations
such as NASA, the National Park Service, the Geological Survey of
Alabama, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, the Jackson
School of Geosciences, BMC Aggregates LC, Cimarex Energy Co.,
and ExxonMobil.
To learn how your organization can become an Earth Science Week
Sponsor, visit http://www.earthsciweek.org/sponsor/index.html online. To
order Earth Science Week Toolkits for science teachers in your area,
go to http://www.earthsciweek.org/materials/index.html.
**************************** ****************************
The American Geological Institute is a nonprofit federation of 44
geoscientific and professional associations that represents more
than 120,000 geologists, geophysicists, and other earth scientists.
Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interests in the profession, plays a
major role in strengthening geoscience education, and strives to
increase public awareness of the vital role the geosciences play in
society’s use of resources and interaction with the environment.
For contact information, please visit http://www.earthsciweek.org/contactus/index.html.
www.ucet.org
Member Newsletter for November 2008
UCET 2009 - Call for Presenters!
Theme: UCET 2009 – Define Yourself
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Tim Tyson
Dates: March 6-7, 2009
Location: Taylorsville High School, Granite School District
5225 South Redwood Road
Salt Lake City, UT 84123
Things are gearing up for the UCET 2009 conference.
We would like to invite you to present a session at the next UCET
conference. “UCET 2009 - Define Yourself” is our conference theme,
which revolves around the topic of Multimedia. We are now accepting presentation proposals for our spring conference.
Presenting at UCET is an excellent opportunity for you to share
your exceptional work in the classroom and with technology.
UCET needs people like you! As a “thank you” for presenting your
registration fee will be waived. You do not need to register as a
participant if you submit a presentation proposal online. You may
submit your proposal at:
http://www.ucet.org/inUCETnew/conference/#regpresenters
In preparation for your proposal, please consider the following:
•Preference will be given to topics that match our needs (see a
sampling of presentation ideas below).
•Presentations must be submitted by December 15, 2008.
•No late submissions will be accepted.
•Presentation proposals must be completed online
•Please contact, [email protected], with any questions.
Conference Presentation Ideas:
Listed below are just a few ideas for topics that could be presented
- however, you certainly are not limited to just these suggestions.
•Teaching and Learning with Technology
•Constructivist Teaching with Technology
•Project Based Learning with Technology
•WebQuests
•Multimedia Lesson Plans/Lesson Planning Sites
•ThinkFinity Lesson Plans and Multimedia Resources
(Continued on Page 9)
Page 1
Macintosh - Creating An AudioBook Compilation from
Your Audio CDs
Album, Composer, Grouping, Comments, Genre, Rating, and Year.
You can also choose to have iTunes or your iPod remember the
playback position, etc.
You’ve purchased a book on tape or CD, turned them into MP3
files, and now are wondering how you get them to show up in the
AudioBook part of your iTunes library? Read on, and I’ll show you
how.
One nice feature is that you can set the data rate, and whether to
save the file as an M4A or M4B. If you choose M4B, you can “Chapterize” the file, which puts the special chapter markers throughout
your file. You can rename any of the track names in the Track Name
window just by double-clicking on the name and typing in a new
one. When you “Chapterize” a file, these names will show up on
your ipod when you click on your audiobook.
First of all, audiobooks have a special filename extension, .M4B. An
M4B file is an Audiobook file based on the MPEG-4 container format; typically compressed with .AAC encoding; nearly identical to a
.M4A file, but denoted as an audiobook and can be “bookmarked”
by supporting audio players. If you’ve encoded your audio as M4A
files, you can just change the extension to M4B and have it show
up in the audiobook portion of iTunes.
But an M4B file has some other special features, too. Using the
right software, you can combine a number of audio files into the
M4B file, and have a special chapter marker placed for each file,
which you can name. Then, when you are in iTunes, you can move
from chapter to chapter quickly by pressing the shortcut key Command-Shift-RightArrow (or LeftArrow if you want to move to
previous chapters). Or you can go into iTunes Controls menu and
choose Next Chapter (or Previous Chapter). If you are looking at
your audiobook on your iPod, you’ll actually see all the chapters
listed, and can click into any of them.
Link:
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/jointogether.php
The link above will take you to Doug’s AppleScripts for iTunes,
where you’ll find his free download, Join Together. Join Together
automates the process of joining the files of selected iTunes tracks
together with QuickTime and exporting them as a single AAC
Music or Audiobook file/track. Optionally, you can then create a
“chapterized” audio file of the exported AAC file with pointers to
the individually joined tracks.
There is a free version, and a more
fully featured paid version that
sells for seven dollars. You’ll need
to have QuickTime and iTunes
installed in order for the scripts to
work.
When you run Join Together, you’ll
see the interface at the right (although all the fields will be empty).
Now open iTunes and select the
files or chapters that you want
to join together. Once they’re all
highlighted, then flip back over to
Join Together and click the “Get
Tracks from iTunes” button. Your
highlighted list from iTunes will
appear in the Track window. If
they’ve somehow gotten out of
order, you can move each track up
or down the list by dragging it in
the track window to your desired
location. Once that’s done, fill in
the information on the right side
of the dialog, such as Name, Artist,
Page 2
I experimented using my Harry Potter set of Audio CDs. When I
imported the CDs, each chapter was divided into sections: 01a,
01b, 01c, etc. So I made my audiobook in two steps. First I joined
each chapter’s individual files in Join Together as an M4A audio file.
Once I had combined these into chapters, I used Join Together to
put the chapters into an M4B audiobook, as shown below.
When you click the proceed button, a script runs that opens all the
individual files in QuickTime. It was quite interesting to listen to 17
chapters all playing at the same time for a moment while the script
combined them into a single Quicktime file. Once accomplished,
the script then export the single, combined QuickTime file as an
M4A or M4B file using the settings you specified.
You may have problems (because of a Quicktime limitation on file
size) if your audiobook is over 12 hours in length. If this is the case
you’ll see a red exclamation mark by the “Proceed” button. You
should split your audiobook into two smaller parts. Another hint:
Turn off “Automatically play movies when opened” in your Quicktime preference before using Join Together. Things will go faster.
Overall, this is a great utility that can have more application than
just creating audiobooks. I give a 2-thumbs-up to Doug for his fine
script site.
SchoolTipLine: Prevent Violence, Bullying, and Drug
Abuse at the Earliest Stages
How quickly will the school receive my report? - Once a report has been
submitted through the Web site, the school administrators or designated school staff will receive an e-mail notification immediately.
As Web 2.0 becomes more prevalent, we are seeing some useful
applications of social networks. One particular website is starting to get more hits from Utah, and bullies should start worrying.
SchoolTipLine is a site that allows students to anonymously report
violence, bullying, drug abuse, sexual harrassment, and other
school safety issues. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, six schools
in Utah have now enrolled, and others may want to consider this
type of solution. Quoting from the site’s webFAQ:
Can I follow up to see what is being done about my report? - Go to www.
SchoolTipline.com and click on the “Follow Up” tab, and proceed
by typing in the Report ID you received when you submitted your
report. If it is a more urgent matter, please follow up within 24-48
hrs of making the report.
“What is SchoolTipline? - SchoolTipline is a third party service that
specializes in facilitating the anonymous disclosure of information regarding activities or behavior within the school as well as
how students or parents feel about their school. This confidential,
anonymous system provides a way to report concerns and problems over the Internet.
What is the purpose of SchoolTipline? - SchoolTipline.com was created to
break the code or culture of silence that exists in schools. It facilitates the sharing of safety information between students, parents,
administrators, staff, counselors, and safety officers. Students often
fail to report because they don’t feel anonymous and because they
don’t know where or how to report. SchoolTipline.com is a system
that makes students feel safe and comfortable reporting issues and
allows administrators to respond quickly and effectively.
Why does my school need SchoolTipline.com? - SchoolTipline.com gives
students a safe and anonymous way to report to their school.
Administrators can also easily use the system to track reports
and incidents. SchoolTipline.com is a powerful tool for students,
administrators, and parents to gather important information from
surveys, online reports, and text messages and thus prevent and
resolve school safety issues.
What types of things can I report? - Reports on SchoolTipline.com can be
about anything from bullying to drugs to sexual harassment, discrimination, or vandalism. To see which reports your school would
like to receive, visit your school’s website. Once on that website,
click on “Submit a Report” and read through the following page of
information. Once you have read the privacy policy and agreed to
the terms of use, the system will take you to the first page to submit a report. Click on the drop-down box for the Report Type, and
it will show you the types of events and problems you can report
to your school.
Why should I report? - By submitting a report, you help administrators
to become more aware of incidents happening in your school. They
can’t fix problems if they don’t know about them. By reporting, you
make your school a better and safer place to be.
Can a report be traced back to me? - No. By sending information through
either the Web site or the hotline, your identity and anonymity is
protected unless you choose to share your personal information.
Who gets the reports? - Reports are only received by school administrators and specified school personnel. If you are reporting over
the Web, you can choose who you want to receive your report.
These people are called report managers, and they can be school
counselors, administrators or teachers. Account managers can see
all reports.
Page 3
If there are follow-up questions from my school, what happens? - The followup responses will be handled in the same confidential and anonymous manner as the first report submission. SchoolTipline acts
as an independent third party and will not reveal your personal
identity unless you choose to allow it. See our Terms and Conditions for more information.
How is this anonymous? - We are an independent third party that
makes great efforts to maintain anonymity if the reporter prefers
not to be known. When reporting over the Web, we recommend
you leave your e-mail address with our SchoolTipline system. Doing so will allow us to send messages directly to your inbox and
notify you of updates. If you don’t leave your e-mail address, you
will will have to use the assigned Case ID to follow up manually at
SchoolTipline.com.
To keep you anonymous during SMS reporting, our system screens
out your phone number when you send messages to school
administrators. To ensure anonymity, we recommend not sending
any identifying information in your reports. Also remember that if
the the system is misused or you report illegal or life-threatening
emergencies, your report will be investigated and you will lose the
privilege of anonymity.
Am I required to remain anonymous? - When submitting a report, you
can select to remain anonymous or not. You can choose to remain
completely anonymous or you can choose to disclose your name
to your school.
What about false/frivolous reports or report bullying? - Schools have the
option of open reporting or login reporting.
Before reporting reporters agree not to report emergencies or false
reports.
SchoolTipline reserves the right to trace IP addresses, block or delete user accounts or look up the user if the tip is life threatening.
SchoolTipline works as an ice breaker that fosters open communication and builds trust with students. When a report comes in
school officials follow up and ask for details. Example - school administrator says, “Can you give me more details before I talk to the
student?” or “I can give this student a warning and keep an eye on
the situation or you can come forward and I can give him a suspension. Let me know if we can talk about this in person?”
Even with the open reporting system school administrators have
said “false or frivolous reporting” has not been a problem.”
Link:
http://www.schooltipline.com/en/
In another example, a Utah father’s efforts have resulted in a state
supported website where people can report drug related issues:
Link:
http://www.publicsafety.utah.gov/investigations/tip_form.html
Inexpensive Tech Tricks that Pay Big In the Classroom
Howtoons:
http://www.howtoons.com/ (For Kids - DIY Projects in Cartoon Format)
Would you like to build your own SmartBoard? Johnny Chung Lee,
a computer science graduate from Carnegie Mellon University, can
show you how with about $50 worth of parts you can get from
Radio Shack. Johnny is one of a growing movement of do-it-yourself folks who are extending consumer electronics beyond their
original purpose. Here’s a sampling:
Low-Cost Multi-touch Whiteboard using the Wii Remote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s5EvhHy7eQ
Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the Wii Remote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw
Tracking Fingers with the Wii Remote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0awjPUkBXOU
Automatic Projector Calibration with Embedded Light Sensors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgrGjJUBF_I
Most educators are Do-It-Yourself’ers (DIYers), creating solar systems out of paper mache, model rockets out of coat hangers and
pop bottles, etc. So, if these kind of projects pique your interest,
then here’s a collection of sites just for DIYers (thanks to http://edutopia.org for the leads)...
Instructables: Link:
http://www.instructables.com/
TeachClever: Teachers have a lot on their plates. TeachClever can
help by giving you tips and tricks for becoming more productive
and efficient. Whether it’s an online tool or a classroom tip, TeachClever will give you something practical you can use now.
Link:
http://teachclever.com/
Tech Savvy Teachers: Tech Savvy Teachers is a blog that aims to deliver a new way to use technology to help teachers become more
successful. Focusing on practical ways to utilize technology to offer
true benefits to the classroom teacher, Tech Savvy Teachers will offer weekly tutorials, articles and interesting links.
Link:
http://tech.savvyteachers.com/
You can check out other inspiring websites and share your classroom tech hacks at http://edutopia.org/tech-hacks
Red Zebra - Kid Friendly Web Search Tool
Make:
http://makezine.com/
Page 4
How about a search engine that filters for kids? Red Zebra
is one site you should have a look at. Searches return only G
rated content. The interface is unusual, too. You see a fan of
results - mini images of the pages. You drag to scroll left or
right through the thumbnail views, then click on a view to go
there. Link: http://redzee.com
A Special Web Browser for Autistic Children
From their website: “You have
found the best environment on
the Internet for your autistic child.
ZAC is the first web browser developed specifically for children
with autism, and autism spectrum
disorders such as Asperger syndrome, pervasive developmental
disorders (PDD), and PDD-NOS.
We have made this browser for
the children - for their enjoyment, enrichment, and freedom.
Children touch it, use it, play it,
interact with it, and experience
independence through ZAC.
ZAC is the zone that will permit
your child to interact directly
with games (a LOT of games) and
activities (focused on MANY interests) that cater specifically to kids
who display the characteristics of
autism spectrum disorders, like
impairments in social interaction,
impairments in communication,
restricted interests and repetitive behavior. ZAC has been an effective tool for kids with low, medium and high functioning autism.
ZAC focuses on the children and their interaction - But we also provide an excellent forum for parents, caretakers, teachers, and others to share their experiences, tools and resources and to unite as a
caring, compassionate, and extremely knowledgeable community.
It is said that “it takes a village to raise a child”, and that is exponentially true for raising a child with autistic spectrum disorders. The
power of your experience yesterday is going to be instrumental in
helping someone successfully tackle the circumstances of today.”
Link:
http://zacbrowser.com/
Paint.Net - Free Photo/Paint Program for Windows
http://www.getpaint.net/
Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers
that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a
wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing
online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.
It started development as an undergraduate college senior design
project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained
by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. Originally
intended as a free replacement for the Microsoft Paint software
that comes with Windows, it
has grown into a powerful yet
simple image and photo editor
tool. It has been compared to
other digital photo editing software packages such as Adobe®
Photoshop®, Corel® Paint Shop
Pro®, Microsoft Photo Editor, and
The GIMP. In a recent PCWorld
magazine article, it was tagged
as the in-house favorite of PC
world editors.
If you use Windows, you’ll want
to try Paint.Net. Documentation
is at...
http://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/en/
index.html
Page 5
FormatFactory - Convert Media to Other Formats
FormatFactory is a multifunctional media converter that is freeware. I tried the product and found it to work well, and is quite
easy to use.
Link:
http://www.formatoz.com/
The program easily converts almost all popular video, audio, and
picture formats. Elana Santos, one of many reviewers, wrote, “Not
a day goes by – at least for me – without having to convert media
files to one format or another. If you too are in this situation, you
need something like FormatFactory.
This full featured format converter enables you to convert all sorts
of multimedia files (audio, video and images) between the most
Page 6
popular formats, including WMV, AVI, MPG, MP3, WMA, AAC, JPG,
PNG, GIF and more. What’s more, FormatFactory supports all the
media formats used by portable devices like the PSP or the iPhone.
The program is really easy to use – that is, once you get used to
its somewhat weirdly designed- interface. Don’t look for any File
button or menu, because there isn’t any. The option to add files to
the program’s interface doesn’t appear until you select the target
format. You can select individual files or complete folders, and also
tweak some basic conversion settings if you want.
Despite its slightly confusing interface, I found FormatFactory to be
a really handy, efficient application, and also one of the few I know
that converts everything: photos, music and video.”
OLED Manufacturing Process Continues to Improve
OLED, an acronym for organic light emitting diode, is a new technology that is just beginning to mature. OLED is basically organic
molecules in a thin layer of film emit light when an electric current
is applied to them. The advantage? You can have an incredibly
bright display as thin as plastic wrap. Think of a television display
that could unroll like a screen. Think of entire walls able to become
a display or panels of light. Think of ultra-thin computer moniters,
only 3 mm thick. This is OLED’s potential. The only problem has
been trying to make the OLED film inexpensively.
Here’s where the researchers at General Electric come in. They
have invented a process to print and manufacture OLED film on a
roll - like newspapers do. From GE’s blog...
“World’s first demonstration of “Roll-to-Roll” Processed OLEDs
Hey everyone. We have a big development in the lab to report.
Since the early days of OLED research, people have said that OLEDs
could potentially be made at very low cost because they don’t
require expensive semiconductor manufacturing techniques. The
ultimate low cost fabrication method would be a continuous “rollto-roll” process like what is done in newspaper printing. However,
so far, no one has demonstrated that OLEDs can be made this way.
So about 4 years ago, we set out to find out for ourselves whether
it could be done. We found a partner company (Energy Conversion
Devices or ECD) with great experience at making roll-to-roll equipment and together we were successful in winning a proposal that
we submitted to a government agency (NIST) looking to help fund
high risk technology development.
Our proposal was to build a research roll-to-roll line for making
OLEDs and our deliverable was to show that OLEDs could be made
Page 7
on it. We’ve been working to make this happen for the past 4 years.
This means that we’ve been working to develop OLED device designs and fabrication processes that are compatible with roll-to-roll
processing and to design and build individual equipment modules
and then integrate them into a working line. Because this had
never been done before, we faced some real technical challenges especially given our program time constraints that often meant we
had to start designing machine modules before we had the device
fabrication process completely figured out! Anyway, in the end it
all came together and we were successful in making our deliverable. Here’s picture proof that we were able to make OLEDs using
our roll-to-roll machine.”
Once this process is perfected, OLEDs can be manufactured
inexpensively. In fact, much cheaper than LCD or plasma displays.
Right now, Sony has an 11” OLED display for sale ($2500) that’s
beautiful, but pricey. As new manufacturing processes become
perfected, we’ll see that price drop dramatically, perhaps to the
point where LCD and plasma displays may entirely replaced by
OLED.
Besides OLED, you’ll want to watch the laser displays that are just
around the corner. Last year, we reported that Microvision had
develeped a laser projector so small that it could fit inside a cell
phone, yet project up to 80” on a wall or screen. Other laser based
technologies are aimed at replaced projection televisions with a
laser unit. To read more, visit...
Link:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/oled.htm
Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6GRggDPgds
Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixk48ySvYrs
(Photo courtesy of GE Press Release)
2008-2009 Qwest Teachers and Technology
Mini-Grant Competition for Utah Teachers
Please share this announcement with teachers in your
districts and schools.
The Qwest Foundation has once again provided
$50,000 for classroom mini-grants to help provide
some of the latest tools and resources to teachers and
students.
Additional information and the grant application can
be found at Rick Gaisford’s MyUEN page (http://my.uen.
org/39 then click on the Qwest Tab).
The grant’s purpose is to recognize, at the classroom
level, those teachers integrating technology into their
daily curriculum and to help expand or enhance their
students’ learning experiences using technology.
Applicants are encouraged to incorporate distance
education mediums, cross-over between subject areas, engage students in project-producing events with
measurable results, and persuade other teachers and
administrators to follow their example.
Eligible teachers may submit for one grant award.
Grant funds may be used to purchase technology and/
or supplies, to pay for distance education expenses,
or to support profession development needs; however, funds may not be used to pay salaries or to pay
stipends.
Funds are awarded to the teacher at the classroom
level. All materials and services purchased with Qwest
Foundation funds as a result of this award are the
property of the school district / charter school.
A panel representing the USOE and Qwest will meet
in January 2009 to determine which applications will
be funded. Grant funds must be expended by June 30,
2010.
The application deadline for this grant is December
15, 2008.
Mini-grant goals:
•improve student achievement using today’s technology
•build real-world team problem-solving environments
•lay groundwork for future technology integration projects
Mini-grant purposes:
•recognize and reward innovative teachers
•create out-of-the-box thinking
•leverage classroom technology outside of the standard “brick
and mortar” resources
•encourage student use of real-world communicative mediums and development of problem-solving skills crossing-over
between different subjects
•set examples of technology integration’s limitless possibilities
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in strengthening student achievement
IMPORTANT NOTE: Previous Qwest mini-grant recipients are NOT
eligible for this program
Rick Gaisford
Utah State Office of Education
250 East 500 South
P.O. Box 144200
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-4200
801-538-7798
Call for Presentations (Continued from Page 1)
•Pioneer Lesson Plans and Multimedia Resources
•On the Web: thecreativeeducator.com, Thinkport.org, HotChalk, New York
•Times Online for Teachers
•Interactive Websites: Second Life
•Web 2.0 Multimedia Tools
•Digital Photography
•Digital Story Telling
•Photoshop Level 1-2-3
•Photoshop Elements 1-2
•Free online photo editors like Photoshop Express, Gimp, Picasa
•Photostory How-To, Hands-On, or Curriculum Examples
•Slide Share
•Bubble share
•Kidpix
•Kerpoof
•Tech 4 Learning – each of their software packages
•Digital Video
•iMovie 1-2
•Windows Movie Maker 1 -2
•Video Websites: YouTube, Teacher Tube, School Tube, DNA
Tube, eMedia,
•Safari Montage, Teachers Domain, Hotchalk for NBC videos
•Tech 4 Learning – each of their software packages
•Director in Classroom
•Simulations and visualizations
•Global Community sites like ePals for peer editing of digital
stories
•Film Festivals
•Claymation How-To, Hands-On, Curriculum Ideas
•Stop Animation How-To, Hands On or Curriculum Examples
•PSA’s in the curriculum
•Jing
•Podcasting and Audio
•Garage Band 1-2
•Garage Band Curriculum examples
•iPods, cellphones, etc in the classroom
•Audio Websites: Soundzabound
•Wimba Voice Tools: Voice Thread, Podcaster, Voice Messenger
•Technical
•Security concerns
•Networking
•Wireless
•Firewalls
•Lab management software
•Filtering and/or servers-routers-hubs
We also invite you, if you’ve not already done so, to download and
read the UCET newsletters. We think you’ll find them relevant and
useful to educators. And they’ve been published just for you as a
UCET member. To download any of the UCET newsletters, go to
NASA/NSTA Symposium: Discover the Universe -- From
Galileo to Today
Join NASA and NSTA in a hands-on symposium that will provide
educators with strategies and resources to empower students to
discover the universe for themselves during the International Year
of Astronomy 2009. Designed for educators of grades 5-12, this
symposium will take place on Dec. 5, 2008, in conjunction with
the NSTA Area Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. Attendance at the
symposium requires conference registration.
This half-day symposium will explore key science concepts -Earth’s place in the universe; light, energy, and optics; and models
and evidence in science -- as participants investigate how NASA’s
space-based missions extend the legacy of observation and discovery that Galileo Galilei initiated when he turned his telescope
to the skies in 1609. Experience NASA space science research in the
context of 400 years of technology-enabled astronomical discovery, and learn how to bring today’s discoveries into the classroom
in a way that reinforces national science education standards.
All participants will receive NASA curriculum support materials,
listings of electronically available resources, and information on
participating in the International Year of Astronomy 2009’s global
celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and
culture. Graduate credit may be available at an additional cost to
participants. To receive graduate credit, participants must pay a
nominal fee and complete an action plan and a lesson plan.
For more information about the symposium, visit
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/fall08/NASA/symposium.aspx
NASA/NSTA Web Seminar: Discover the Universe -- From
Galileo to Today
For those unable to attend the symposium in person, educators
are encouraged to join NASA and NSTA for two free Web seminars
featuring scientists and education specialists from NASA. The
seminars will focus on key science concepts -- Earth’s place in the
universe; light, energy, and optics; and models and evidence in
science -- as participants investigate how NASA’s space-based missions extend the legacy of observation and discovery that Galileo
Galilei initiated when he turned his telescope to the skies in 1609.
The presenters will share their science expertise, answer questions
from the participants and provide information regarding Web sites
that students can use in the classroom.
Designed for educators of grades 5-12, the 90-minute seminars will
begin at 6:30 p.m. EST on Dec. 16, 2008, and 6:30 p.m. EST on Jan.
20, 2009.
http://www.ucet.org/inUCETnew/newsletter/
To learn more about these seminars and to register online, visit
We hope to hear from you soon!
http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/fall08/NASA/webseminar.aspx
Page 9
Twitter. Tweet. Are Those Birds Singing?
What’s that Cloud Over There?
When it comes to technology, you almost need a specialized dictionary to be able to understand the dialog. I was talking with my
wife the other day about some new technology I was excited about
and she stopped me dead in my tracks, “Is that English? Would you
translate, please?”
Twitter and Tweet are two of many new vocabulary words presently being flung through the media. Another is Cloud Computing.
Cloud computing, in essence, uses the resources of the world’s
largest network, the internet, to provide services. A lot of the new
services we are seeing have been coined “Software As A Service”,
or SAAS. Google Docs, Zoho, and some of the new Adobe products use “cloud computing” to distribute their services. It’s kind of
funny, because even the experts don’t completely agree what the
term means....
Then she said, “What are you doing?”
“I’m tweeting.”
“Huh? You’re what?!!”
It all makes sense when you understand that Twitter is a microblog service. These blog posts can only be up to 140 characters
long. And on Twitter, they’re called “tweets.” Twitter is a service
for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one
simple question: What are you doing?
Link:
http://twitter.com/
You’d think that someone would be crazy to want to post little
one liners about what they’re doing at the moment. Yes, it does
sound crazy, but Twitter has grown dramatically over the past year,
as people learn that you can get to know someone in ways you
wouldn’t expect just from these little one-line micro-blogs...
“John, I didn’t know you liked reading Mark Twain.” (I’m thinking gift idea...)
“Tim, you’re in Las Vegas right now? I am too. Let’s get together
and have lunch.”
People are finding new ways to use Twitter. For example, PC World
reports that within seconds of an
earthquake in California, there
were over 3600 posts to Twitter
about the earthquake. I guess
that’s life in real-time. Another
report was about a man who was
arrested after taking photos at
an Egyptian archeological site.
He had time to post one tweet,
“Arrested.” His friends deluged the
U.S. Embassy with requests for his
release. He was released within a
day.
Other people use Twitter to see
what’s happening at a particular
location. If you’re familiar with
FaceBook - Twitter is much like the
wall, where your friends post what
they’re doing at the moment.
Using Twitter, you could: 1) Find
out the current weather. 2) Look
for a job or an employee. 3) Receive travel advisories. 4) Perform
Google-like searches, and more.
Stop by Twitter’s website and have
a look.
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Have a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PNuQHUiV3Q
Basically, it means that the cloud (aka the internet) becomes the
means for distributing the computing services you need. All you
need is to have an internet connection. No other software is necessary.
As great as this is, and we’ve all been excited about the many web
2.0 services we enjoy, it also poses a problem. If the internet goes
down, you’re crippled - non-functioning. Similar to walking into
a store to buy something when there’s been a power outage. No
electricity - no business. It wasn’t always that way, when cash registers were worked by hand. I guess every cloud has a silver lining,
but cloud computing can also be dark and stormy at times. Keep
a backup, if you can. However, I feel the pros outweigh the cons.
I think we can look forward to many new, interesting, and useful
services cloud computing can offer.
Need some other definitions for tech terms? Try...
http://www.techterms.com/
NASA and the Challenger Center Announce Habitat Naming Contest
NASA and the Challenger Center for Space Education have partnered to engage students in ongoing activities for one of NASA’s
concepts for astronaut housing on the moon through a contest to
name a habitat in Antarctica. NASA currently is conducting a test
of a lightweight, durable, inflatable habitat on the cold, harsh landscape of the National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station.
The Challenger Center is organizing and conducting the “Name
That Habitat” competition for students in grades 6-10. The Challenger Center will recruit subject matter experts to serve as judges
for the contest and will provide prizes and other items for the winner and participants. The winning name will be selected later this
year and announced by scientists in Antarctica in January 2009.
Student, teachers and the public will be able to follow the progress
of the inflatable habitat activities throughout the project.
The habitat was funded through NASA’s Innovative Partnership
Program’s Seed Fund initiative, with in-kind resource contributions
by the National Science Foundation and ILC Dover of Frederica,
Del., the manufacturer of the structure. An inflatable habitat is one
of several concepts being considered for astronaut housing on the
moon.
The structure looks somewhat like an inflatable backyard “bounce
house” for children, but it is far more sophisticated. It is insulated,
heated and pressurized, and has power. It offers 384 square feet of
living space and has, at its highest point, an 8-foot ceiling. During
the test period, sensors will allow engineers to monitor the habitat’s performance.
The contest helps NASA fulfill its mission to promote an interest in
NASA missions. The contest, for example, asks students to nominate a name that has not been used in previous NASA missions,
spacecraft, ships, or robotics, which they can only do successfully
by conducting some research.
The Challenger Center is an international, nonprofit educational
organization founded in 1986 by the families of the astronauts lost
during the last flight of the space shuttle Challenger. The goal of
the organization is to foster student interest in careers in science,
technology, engineering and mathematics.
The deadline for entries for the contest is Nov. 20, 2008.
For more information about entering the Name That Habitat
contest, visit http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/oct/HQ_08267_Habitat_Naming_Contest.html . Questions about this contest should be
directed to Sonja Alexander at [email protected].
2008-09 Life and Work on the Moon Art and Design Contest
NASA invites high school and college students from the arts,
including industrial design, architecture, computer design and
the fine arts, to submit their work on the theme “Life and Work on
the Moon.” Artists are encouraged to collaborate with science and
engineering students. Such collaboration is not required but would
help to ensure that the art is valid for the moon’s harsh environment.
Page 11
Entries will be accepted in three categories: two-dimensional,
three-dimensional and digital, including video. Entries will be
evaluated not only on their artistic qualities, but also on whether
they depict a valid scenario.
Prizes include awards and exhibit opportunities. International students are encouraged to participate, but they are not eligible for
cash prizes or student internships.
Entries are due no later than March 15, 2009.
For more information about the contest and to register online, visit
http://artcontest.larc.nasa.gov. Questions about the contest should be
directed to Dr. Elizabeth Ward at [email protected] .
MEAF Inclusion Champion Award
Grants of $1,000 for work with disabled students
From their website: The MEAF Inclusion Champion Award honors
individuals who have made significant efforts to promote the full
inclusion of youth with disabilities in society. The focus of the efforts may include, but is not limited to, helping to create a culture
of inclusion within an organization or community or developing
innovative strategies for inclusive programming in: school activities, after-school programs, community service, and leadership
development.
The Inclusion Champion is selected each year by a panel of experts
in the field, and is presented during the Kids Included Together
(KIT) annual conference in April. The award consists of a trophy and
$1000 donated to the charity of the Champion’s choice.
Criteria for selection:
• Evidence that attitudes have changed and inclusion has been
embraced due to the individual’s efforts
•Measurable impact on the lives of young people with and
without disabilities due to the individual’s efforts
•Sustainability of inclusion outcomes
To nominate, please send a letter (maximum 2 pages exclusive of
attachments) with the following information:
•Name of nominated individual and contact information;
•Name of nominator and contact information;
•Detailed description of individual’s inclusion efforts and their
outcomes;
•Where possible, include testimony of children and others
impacted by these efforts;
•Photos, media articles and support letters may be attached
(note that these items will not be returned).
Please submit your nomination via email or mail by December 1,
2008 to:
Inclusion Champion Award
Kids Included Together
2820 Roosevelt Rd, Suite 202
San Diego, CA 92106
or
[email protected]
http://meaf.org/grants-inclusion.php#incchamp
“Music Matters” Grant Program
From their website: 2009 Music Matters Grant applications are
now available.
The Muzak Heart & Soul Foundation’s mission is to redefine and
support music education. Through music education, a child can
better achieve his/her full potential and stimulate personal and
educational growth.
Music Matters Grants for 2009 will focus on educational reform in
school music programs and independent music programs. Grants
will be awarded in April 2009 (money will be distributed by October 2009), to schools and music programs throughout the United
States. Grant amounts for this cycle are between $1,000-$12,000
each and are made on an annual one-time basis.
Applications must be postmarked by February 4, 2009.
“Music Matters” Grant Recipient Selection Criteria
•Music education – vocal or instrumental – must be the key
component of any music program requesting funds.
•Public school programs (qualifying for Title I federal funding
and serving a minimum of 70% low-income students) OR
non-profit/501(c)(3) programs directly funding music education (serving students regardless of their ability to pay) should
apply.
•Non-profits must enclose an IRS determination letter with the
grant application.
•Schools and programs must already employ a music
educator(s) and have an existing music program in place.
•Grant requests must articulate specific music program needs –
for existing and/or planned programs.
•Music education programs must meet national standard nondiscrimination policies.
•Recipients will be required to complete periodic evaluations
throughout 2009.
Link:
http://heart.muzak.com/what/grants.aspx
Being an American Essay Contest
From their website: The 2008-2009 Contest has begun!
Pathfinder Applications - Teachers in Space - Become an
Astronaut Teacher
From their website: Every journey begins with a single step. The
Pathfinder program is the first step in the journey toward our goal
of putting a thousand astronaut teachers into American classrooms.
Pathfinders will be the first astronaut teachers to fly in space and
return to the classroom. These Pathfinders will not only fly in space,
they will also help us design the three-week training course for the
large number of teachers who follow. We hope that Pathfinders
will also return each summer to help us teach the course. (Can you
think of a more exciting summer job?)
We are currently accepting applications for the first two Pathfinders. (We aren’t sure how many Pathfinders there will eventually be.
This is the first time we’ve run a program such as this—in fact, the
first time anyone has—so we’re learning as we go.)
We’re looking for one Pathfinder who is knowledgeable in science,
technology, engineering, or math (STEM) subjects. Applicants for
the STEM Pathfinder slot are asked to submit a proposal for an
experiment that could be performed on a suborbital flight.
We’re looking for another Pathfinder who has strong skills in lesson
plan development. Applications are asked to submit a lesson plan
or curriculum module based on any aspect of human spaceflight.
Teachers from all subject areas, STEM and non-STEM, are encouraged to apply.
Applicants will be judged on these submissions as well as their
educational background and experience. Finalists will be contacted
for personal interviews and additional screening.
Teachers at all grade levels, K-12, are encouraged to apply.
Due to the high degree of interest, the deadline for applications is
extended to December 4, 2008, but please don’t wait until the last
minute. If we have two candidates whose applications are given
identical weighting by the selection committee, preference may be
given to the application received first, so do not delay.
To apply for the STEM Pathfinder competition, download the application here:
The Question: What civic value do you believe is most essential to
being an American? Trace the enduring importance of this value
throughout the American story by discussing: a Founding document that reflects this value; a figure from American history who
embodies this value; and ways you can personally put this value
into practice.
http://www.teachersinspace.org/apply/STEM_App.doc
The Prizes: 180 prizes will be awarded totaling nearly $200,000. Top
prize winners will win $5,000 cash and a trip to Washington, D.C.
for an Awards Gala and Weekend!
Completed applications should be emailed back to us at: apply@
teachers-in-space.org. You may use the same email address to contact
Submitting an Essay: Our teacher-only submission of high school
student essays began on September 2, and ends December 1,
2008. For detailed rules, go here...
Link:
http://www.beinganamerican.org/about/rules.html
Link:
http://www.beinganamerican.org/
Page 12
To apply for the open-area Pathfinder competition, download this
application:
http://www.teachersinspace.org/apply/Gen_App.doc
us with any questions you may have regarding the application
process. Good luck, and Godspeed.
Link: http://www.teachersinspace.org/apply/apply.htm
Link: http://www.teachersinspace.org
www.ucet.org
Member Newsletter for December 2008
It’s Time to Join the UCET Team!
UCET 2009 - Call for Presenters...We need your expertise!
Theme: UCET 2009 – Define Yourself
Keynote Speaker: Mr. Tim Tyson
Dates: March 6-7, 2009
Location: Taylorsville High School, Granite School District
5225 South Redwood Road
Salt Lake City, UT 84123
Things are gearing up for the UCET 2009 conference and this
year promises to be a great conference. With just a couple weeks
remaining – it is time to submit a proposal to present!
We would like to invite you to present a session at the next UCET
conference. “UCET 2009 - Define Yourself” is our conference theme.
We are now accepting presentation proposals for our spring conference. Presenting at UCET is an excellent opportunity for you to
share your exceptional work in the classroom and with technology.
UCET needs people like you! As a “thank you” for presenting your
registration fee will be waived. You do not need to register as a
participant if you submit a presentation proposal online. You may
submit your proposal at:
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http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p9J9DiJeexZnnwDNahrJxIw
In preparation for your proposal, please consider the following:
•Preference will be given to topics that match our needs (see
below).
•Presentations must be submitted by December 15, 2008.
•No late submissions will be accepted.
•Presentation proposals must be completed online
•Please contact, [email protected], with any questions.
Do you need ideas for conference presentation topics? View the
Call for Presenters Letter online at ...
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgjwj4x6_398fkf3zwdw
Wanting to attend UCET 2009 but haven’t registered yet? Please
do so soon, so you can receive the early registration discount! We
hope to be hearing from you soon.
Link:
http://www.ucet.org
Rachel Murphy, UCET President
Protect Your Computer From Internet Threats
It’s no secret that criminal activity on the internet has increased.
You read about the virus threats, trojans, botnets, drive-by computer takeovers, and root kits quite often in the news anymore.
You hear about large, trusted organizations having their servers
compromised by hackers who steal social security numbers and
credit card information. You’ve heard about phishing attacks
through email. Should you worry about your computer being
compromised? You bet. One of my full time employees attended a
security seminar, where they set up a new, unpatched PC and connected it to the internet. Within seven minutes of setting it up, it
had been scanned and compromised. What can you do to protect
yourself? There are some safe computing practices I’d like to share
with you.
Myth: Apple Macintoshes are less vulnerable that Windows Computers: Sorry
Mac users, this is just not true. This year alone, Apple has released
over 250 fixes for security vulnerabilities in its operating system
and applications. Just this week, IT email lists revealed two new
Macintosh threats that could compromise your computer. About
the only advantage Macintosh users had over WIndows users the
past several years is Apple’s small market share, small enough that
hackers didn’t bother to focus their efforts on compromising Macintosh computers. A combination of Windows Vista’s bad press,
the success of Mac OS X, and Apple’s domination with the iPod
and iPhone, resulted in Mac market share rising, and consequently
Macs are becoming a viable target. But an even greater factor is
that most of the recent computer threats come through poisoned
websites. Browsers may be vulnerable regardless of the operating
system in which they work.
Keep your computer patched and up-to-date: It’s a constant war. Software
vendors release software. Criminals find security holes to compromise. Software vendors patch the holes. And the cycle goes on
endlessly. To protect yourself, you should:
1) Update your software regularly. Each application you use usually has a menu option “check for updates” - mostly in the help
menu or preferences. Check each application to see if there are
updates, download them, and install them.
2) If you’ve not done so, install a good virus checking program
such as McAfee or Norton Antivirus. There are even some free ones
available online, such as Avast. Make sure they are active and kept
up-to-date. Use the antivirus application to scan your hard drive(s)
for any infected files right after you install the software.
3) If you are using Windows, turn on the firewall. A firewall is an
application that intercepts requests from software to access the
internet. Depending on the settings you choose, a firewall will stop
the request and prompt you (through a dialog box) if you wish to
allow the request to continue. If you’re not sure, say no.
4) Check for operating system updates and security patches
regularly. By regularly - I mean at least once a week. In Windows,
use the Windows update link (usually in the start menu). On the
Macintosh, use the software update option in the apple menu.
Download and install any critical updates and security patches.
5) Install and run an anti-spyware/malware application such as Spybot Search and Destroy or Lavasoft’s Adware Personal.
Page 2
6) If you’ve not done so, turn on the pop-up window blocker in
your browsers. Only allow pop-up windows for trusted sites.
7) Treat any file you receive by download as a potential threat,
whether you received it through an online application such as
Blackboard or Wimba, through instant messaging, or as a download you have chosen in your web browser. For me, an online
search of the filename will usually reveal any potential problems a
download may have to deliver. For application downloads, take a
moment to read through the read-me file. If you install an application, carefully read each screen. As a practice, many “free” software
downloads want to install “extras” such as a Google or Yahoo toolbar, or adware that pops. These help pay the bills and allow the
software to be free, but they also slow down your computer. Some
of them are even quite malicious. Uncheck options like these to
keep from installing them.
8) Passwords: If you’ve set up a wireless network for your home,
make sure it is secured by password. Use a strong password (eight
or more characters that include alphabet, numbers, and if allowed
- other characters such as @ $ # *, etc.) Don’t make it an easy to
guess password. Also, make sure your PC is secured by password.
In fact, you may want to set up both an adminstrator account that
you only use when you need to make operating system changes,
such as installing things, and a non-adminstrator account for doing
your everyday activities and browsing. Don’t use the same usernames and passwords for non-essential things like internet site
log-ins and also for essential stuff like your bank account username
and password!
9) Talk to your bank about items and policies they have in place for
keeping your personal accounts safe from online attacks and fraud.
Some banks issue temporary online credit card numbers that
expire within a day or so after you use them to purchase an item
online. Know your bank’s rules and play by them.
10) Be careful about giving personal and bank account information over the phone, at the door, or online. Verify with your bank
that the request is legitimate (you call them rather than they call
you) before providing such information. Most legitimate businesses will never request personal information or account information
through email, or by phone.
puter up-to-date.
A Few Methods Criminals Use to Rob You Online
Rootkits: A rootkit is a program that gives a criminal administrator
access at the most basic level of your operating system - the root
level. Rootkits have two primary functions. First, it allows remote
access and control over your computer. Second, it allows for
software eavesdropping - such as recording your keystrokes when
your enter your credit card number and security code. Rootkits are
installed by means of a blended threat, which includes a dropper (code that gets the rootkit loader installation going), a loader
program which installs the rootkit and then deletes itself, and once
active - a buffer overflow which loads the rootkit into memory.
Blended threat malware gets through by several means: social
engineering attempts, such as getting you to click on an email
attachment or a malicious link or file in instant messaging; exploiting known vulnerabilities, such as a drive-by download to
a poisoned website; or by brute force, hackers and botnets
scanning your computer for vulnerabilities through your
internet connection. Recently, media rich files such as PDF
files or videos have dropper code embedded within them.
That’s one of the reasons you’ve seen so many security
patches for Acrobat and Acrobat Reader, Quicktime, Windows Media Player, etc.
Rootkits are frustrating in that they are difficult to spot.
Even experts have a hard time locating them. Typically,
rootkits may cause a decrease in operating efficiency. Your
computer may lock up or fail to respond to the mouse or
keyboard. Settings in Windows may change without your
permission. Things such as the screensaver changes or the
taskbar hiding itself may be an indicator that a rootkit is
operating. Another sign is that web pages or network access may be slower than usual, or intermittent, or function
improperly due to heavy network traffic the rootkit is doing.
11) You may want to use a program such as Faronics Deep Freeze.
Essentially, you set up your computer the way you want it, then
freeze it into place. Once frozen, any changes made to the computer are lost when you reboot the computer. When you reboot,
the computer is returned to the exact state it was in when you
froze it. You can set certain folders to remain “thawed” so that
files you save in them are not lost on reboot. The nice thing about
deep freeze is that you can recover from a virus or trojan just by
rebooting your computer. Faronics also sells a program called
Anti-Executable, which only allows executable programs to run
that you specify. Any others are shut down before they can load.
Link:
http://www.faronics.com
After doing all this, are you safe? Not 100% - but a lot safer than
you were before. Online criminals are always trying to get around
your security protection. Is it safe to do business online? If you
follow these recommendations, it’s almost as safe as walking to the
bank to do your business. I do business online quite often. You
just need to be wary, use common sense (if it seems to good to be
true, it’s probably a scam), and be diligent in keeping your comPage 3
If you suspect you have a rootkit, have a professional look at
your computer. There are tools available, such as F-Secure
Blacklight, RootkitRevealer, Windows Malicious Software
Removal Tool, ProcessGuard, and Rootkit Hunter (Linux
and BSD), that can spot and remove rootkits. However, the
safest bet when infected is to completely wipe the computer clean
(reformat hard drive), and install everything from scratch.
BotNets: Besides rootkits, there are other means of infecting or compromising your computer. They use any or all of the same infection
means that rootkits use: social engineering to make you click on
a malicious link or download an infected file, drive-by infection, or
brute force scanning. A botnet is a host of infected computers, run
by remote control, to perform a certain action. One criminal action
is to have thousands of computers overwhelm a server by throwing
repeated requests at it (often called a denial of service attack). The
server cannot handle all the requests, so essential services are interrupted. The use of botnets has climbed dramatically over the past
couple years. One reason for the increase has been the method
of infection. SQL injection attacks is one reason for the rise. This
is where criminals break into database applications of vulnerable
host servers online, allowing them to insert malicious code into a legitimate website, thus poisoning it for every vulnerable visitor who
uses the website.
Summary: There are many other means of compromising your
computer. But I think you get the idea. Although you’ve heard this
before, it’s worth repeating - protect your computer. Be diligent in
keeping it up-to-date. Be wary of what you download or click on.
Back up your important files often and keep incremental backups.
Use antivirus software. Use a firewall. Use strong passwords. It’s
all legitimate if you’re participating in the online world! Otherwise,
you are vulnerable. Just ask anyone who has had their personal
information stolen and used.
In my role as Director of Technology for the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, I often get to see the down
side of internet access. I, or my employees, have to fix the computers that have been compromised. We have to visit the unsuspecting educator and tell him that his computer has been hacked and
is serving as a pornography distribution server. We have to go pull
the plug on the administrator’s computer that’s become part of a
botnet denial of service attack. We have to tell the student that
there’s nothing we can for her do but reformat the compromised
computer’s hard drive and install everything all over again.
I get to see the reports from our Utah State University network
security team that inform us of the attempted break-ins and hacks
coming from all over the world. You would be absolutely amazed at
how many attempts there are every minute of every day.
Every week, our network security team scans every computer on
the campus network for known vulnerabilities, and if found, the
owners are notified and told they must patch or have their network
privileges suspended by a certain date. Even with the extra care we
take to do this, computers are still compromised.
As a general trend, attacks have become more criminal in their
intent. It’s not computer hackers trying to break in just to see if
they can. Now it’s thieves trying to steal, trying to extort, trying to
attack. Their attacks have become more sophisticated, varied, and
harder to detect. Some of the new malware payloads can even
rewrite themselves. Polymorphic code is code that mutates while
keeping the original algorithm intact. Such viruses avoid pattern
recognition from antivirus-software..
However, even with more prevalent threats, a little care on your part
can go a long way toward eliminating these kinds of compromises, and their associated woes. Talk to your network people
at your school district. Ask them for their suggestions on
keeping your computer safe. They will be pleased to help you
and train you, because when you do your part, it makes their
job easier. Once, not very long ago, the main role of IT was to
fix broken computers, software, and networks. They used to
have time to train educators about the software they use. Now
a significant portion of their time is spent as network police,
fighting off attacks from outside, and repairing the damage
done when the attacks are successful.
Perhaps you’d like a more in-depth look at what you can do
to protect your computer from attack. If so, you might find
Microsoft’s protection website helpful. Also, using Google, and
key words like “protect my computer,” you’ll find many other
resources.
Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/
Nathan Smith, UCET Board
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edutopia.org
Are you finding it challenging to find examples of what a 21st century classroom looks, sounds and feels like? At edutopia, a George
Lucas Educational Foundation, you can go to the video library and
find video examples on the following educational best practices
such as:
•Assessment
•Integrated Studies
•Project Learning
•Social and Emotional Learning
•Teacher Development
•Technology Integration
Link:
http://www.edutopia.org/video-homepage
Some great teacher and student examples that you might want to
check out:
Tech in Real Life: Students See Devices as Tools, Not Toys
Classes at Clearfield High School, in Clearfield, Utah, apply computers and diagnostic equipment across the curriculum to engage in
authentic learning.
Link:
http://www.edutopia.org/clearfield-high-school-technology-video
The Geo-Literacy Project: Students Use Technology to Explore Their World
Teacher Eva La Mar’s third graders become historians, writers, and
videographers as they explore the geography and geology of their
community.
Link:
http://www.edutopia.org/geo-literacy-project
Margo Shirley, UCET Board
Using a Blog for Team Communications
ing it frequently, too.
Perhaps you’ve run into the situation where you need to be able to
communicate with a team of people across different schedules and
locations. Events occur that everyone needs to be aware of, and
perhaps provide feedback on. I have that need.
A couple of rules I’d like you to follow:
I am Director of the Adele & Dale Young Education Technology
Center at Utah State University. That name is such a mouthful, we
call it the YETC for short. The YETC is the resource center for the
Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services,
and serves as a K-12 curriculum library, an 80 station open access
computer lab for the students, a NASA Educator Resource Center
for Utah educators, and the tech help desk for the college.
There is so much that goes on in the center, with over a thousand
students a day using the resources there, that there is a need for
a constant communication feed
between all the employees. Something happens that must be communicated to employees coming
on shift, so that there is a continuity
of communication that allows us to
serve our patrons better. Employees
need to trade hours. A tech question
comes up that an employee is unable
to answer.
1. This is not a place to post about employee problems that would
single out our employees by name. Personnel problems should be
handled through the Director or the Assistant Managers. This blog
is for general YETC communications only.
2. Let’s not waste this blog space in frivolous banter. All things
posted here should be pertinent to the smooth operation of the
YETC. We don’t want to wade through a ton of irrelevant materials
to get to the important stuff.
3. Please sign your name to anything you post. Also, please respond to each post, even if it is only “I read this.” That way we know
you’ve looked at the post.
Nathan Smith, Director
Although I’m describing a business
here, this is very applicable to any
team situation in education: A team
of students cooperating on a project;
a team of school faculty working
together to find a solution to a problem; a team of district techs needing
to communicate with each other; or a
team of administrators.
For our situation we chose to set up a
free account on BlogSpot.
Link:
http://www.blogspot.com
To set up our blog - we first created a generic Gmail account,
with its username and password. We used that for setting up
the BlogSpot account, then gave each member of the team the
username and password. We made the blog private, so that only
those who had the username and password could log-in and make
changes. We picked our template to use, and began the blog.
First we set up some rules. Here’s our first blog post...
Welcome to the YETC Team Communications Blog
The purpose of this blog, which is private and only YETC employees have been invited to view it, is to provide a communications common. There are times when a problem occurs,
or you need to ask a question, or you’ve started a project for
someone and your shift has ended - and you need to pass this
information along to the next person. That’s what this blog is
for. It is to help us keep communications flowing freely so we
all know what’s happening at the YETC. I’d like you to check
the blog each time you come on shift at the YETC. I’ll be check-
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I set up the blog this way for the following reasons:
•I have a group of people on my team I can trust with full access
privileges to the blog and Gmail account. If your team has different needs, you can have each get their own Gmail account
and then invite them to the Gmail and Blog accounts with only
the privileges you assign them.
•I have access to the accounts
no matter where I’m at - home,
school, or at a conference.
•I have each person comment
on every blog entry, so I can
quickly see who needs a reminder.
•I can add links, images, videos,
embed html code, and more
- so the blog gives me a fairly
full-featured means of communicating. Also, I have the Gmail
account with Google Docs, so
we can collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. In fact, we post our
work schedule this way so my
employees can collaborate on
creating a new work schedule
when changes need to occur.
Using this technology has greatly
improved our communication
flow within our team. Everyone
on the team is constantly updated with news, information,
and events that relate to the
smooth functioning of the YETC.
It has also eliminated the need to hold many staff meetings. Now
we only hold a meeting when it’s necessary to discuss something
face-to-face.
I would be very interested in ways that educators use blogs to
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improve team communications. Feel free to email me at...
[email protected]
...and share your success stories with me. With your permission, I may
even share some of them with our UCET audience via this newsletter.
Inspired Visual Learning Awards - For innovative use of
visual learning in the classroom
Inspiration Software, Inc. offers an annual educator awards program. Totaling more than $22,000 in cash and technology prizes,
the 2008-2009 Inspired Visual Learning Awards will recognize 15
K-12 educators and their students who are creatively using visual
learning in their classrooms. Applications are being accepted until
February 27, winners will be announced March 31, 2009.
To win an award for their classrooms, educators must submit
student-created examples using Inspiration Software’s visual learning software tools: Inspiration®, Kidspiration® and InspireData®.
Winners will receive technology and funds for professional development and/or new technology purchases that support visual
learning in their classrooms.
Inspiration Software will select three Gold Star and twelve Silver
Star award winners. All award packages will include a new Intel®powered Classmate PC, donated by Intel® Corporation. In addition,
each Gold Star award will include $2,500, a 10-pack volume license
for an Inspiration Software product with corresponding lesson plan
books and a 6-month Atomic Learning® training resource subscription. Each Silver Star award will include $1,000 and a 5-pack volume license for an Inspiration Software product with corresponding lesson plan books.
Link:
http://cf.inspiration.com/vlawards/
AASL National School Library Media Program of the Year
Award
Established in 1963, the National School Library Media Program of
the Year (NSLMPY) Award honors school library media programs
practicing their commitment to ensure that students and staff are
effective users of ideas and information, as well as exemplifying implementation of Information Power. The award recognizes exemplary school library media programs that are fully integrated into
the school’s curriculum. Each winning program receives a $10,000
prize ($30,000 total) donated by Follett Library Resources.
In the past, the three award categories were defined as: Large
District (enrollment equal to or greater than 10,000 students),
Small District (enrollment less than 10,000 students) and Individual
School (including single schools that exist as a school district). The
new categories, starting with the 2006 application year, are one
District Award and two Single School Awards. For more information about the changes, read the “AASL changes categories for the
NSLMPY Award” news release.
If you have questions about the AASL NSLMPY award contact
Andrea Parker at 800-545-2433, ext. 1396. Applications must be
received in the AASL Office by January 2, 2009. Facsimile and/or
electronic copies will not be accepted.
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslawards/natlslmprogram/aaslnational.cfm
Link:
Page 7
ING Unsung Heroes Award
Lemelson-MIT Program
Accepting applications for the 2009 awards
The Lemelson-MIT Program aims to enable and inspire young
people to pursue creative lives and careers. It particularly encourages young people to engage in invention and to pursue sustainable new solutions to real world problems. It was founded by the
prolific inventor Jerome H. Lemelson and his wife Dorothy at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994, and is funded by
the Lemelson Foundation.
Are you an educator with a class project that is short on funding
but long on potential? Do you know a teacher looking for grant
dollars? ING Unsung Heroes® could help you turn great ideas into
reality for students.
For more than 10 years, and with $3.0 million in awarded grants,
ING Unsung Heroes has proven to be an A+ program with educators. The program’s “alumni” have inspired success in the classroom
and impacted countless numbers of students. Each year, 100 educators are selected to receive $2,000 to help fund their innovative
class projects. Three of those are chosen to receive the top awards
of an additional $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000.
Applications for the 2009 awards are now available. The application
deadline is April 30, 2009.
http://www.ing-usa.com/us/aboutING/CorporateCitizenship/Education/
INGUnsungHeroes/index.htm
Link:
Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams - Inspiring a New Generation
of Inventors
Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams is a national grants initiative of the
Lemelson-MIT Program to foster inventiveness among high school
students. InvenTeams composed of high school students, teachers
and mentors are asked to collaboratively identify a problem that
they want to solve, research the problem, and then develop a prototype invention as an in-class or extracurricular project. Grants of
up to $10,000 support each team’s efforts. InvenTeams are encouraged to work with community partners, specifically the potential
beneficiaries of their invention.
InvenTeams was launched in 2002 as a pilot program that awarded
grants to three New England high school teams for the 2002-03
academic year. The initiative has expanded each
year since its inception, and in the fall of 2007 it
awarded 16 InvenTeams grants.
InvenTeams Mission
•EXCITE high school students about science, math,
engineering, entrepreneurship and invention
•EMPOWER students through problem solving
•ENCOURAGE a sustainable culture of invention in
schools and communities
The InvenTeams experience is intended to generate
excitement about the rewarding process of identifying a problem or need, brainstorming solutions,
and working hands-on to develop a prototype.
“Learning by doing” is a central tenet of InvenTeams.
Students are exposed to current engineering design
methods and teamwork.
InvenTeams projects empower students to work
collaboratively on a problem and create an environment ripe for “Eureka!” moments, where answers are
discovered and lessons are learned.
Page 8
Grant Details
•Grant size: Up to $10,000 each
•Grant period: October through June (corresponding with the
academic year)
•Grants available: Up to 15
•Who may apply: Science, mathematics, and technology teachers
at public, private, and vocational high schools.
•InvenTeam size: Sizes range from small extracurricular clubs to
large classes; there are no requirements.
•Use of funds: Funds may be allocated for research, materials, and
learning experiences related to development of the invention;
it is not permissible to purchase computers, capital equipment, or professional services with grant funds.
•Stipends: In recognition of their dedication, teachers who
facilitate extracurricular invention projects can designate up to
$2,000 of their grant towards a teacher’s stipend. Continuing
Education Units (CEUs) are available.
2010 InvenTeam Application Timeline - (Grants for the 2009-2010 academic year)
•Early feedback deadline: March 20, 2009
•Initial application deadline: April 24, 2009
•Excite Award recipient notification: May 8, 2009
•Final application deadline: September 11, 2009
•2010 InvenTeams announced: October 2, 2009
Link:
http://web.mit.edu/inventeams/apply.html
2009 UCET TECNOLOGY GRANT PROPOSAL
USB 3.0 Coming Soon
UCET will continue its teacher technology grant program this year.
We encourage you to be thinking about needs you may have in
your classroom that a technology grant may help fill. You’ll also
want to watch the UCET website conference section - particularly
the vendors and sponsors portion. There, we’ll list vendors and
sponsors, their contact information, and a brief description of the
kinds of products they sell. The link will be active as soon as the
vendors send me this information.
All of you have used USB ports. In fact, the technology is ubiquitous; it seems the most common complaint is that there are not
enough USB ports on your computer to handle all the peripherals
that use it.
The grant requires you to purchase from our current UCET vendors
and sponsors, so you’ll want to be familiar with their products and
services.
Grant Requirements:
You must attend both days (all seven sessions) of UCET in order
to apply for the grant. Please list the 7 session titles that you attended.
•Visiting the vendors may count as one session.
•Presenting a session may count as one session.
You must include detailed grant information on your proposal.
You must include an itemized, detailed budget with your grant
application.
You must spend your money with a current UCET vendor.
Your grant must be for technology items.
You must sign a photo and publishing release form.
GRANT INFORMATION:
As you think about your grant possibilities, the following information will be required in your grant submission:
Project Title and Description: This should be very detailed and
should include:
•Reason for your grant
•Itemized budget
•Show creativity and or innovation
•How the proposal is aligned with the Utah State Core curriculum
•Show involvement with the school community
•Any matching funds information
•Number of students impacted
•How the grant will help student learning and achievement
•Information on who will support the technology that will be
purchased?
•How students and teachers will use technology items
Deadline for grant is March 31, 2009 at 5 pm. All documents must
be e-mailed to Ross Rogers [email protected].
We’ll be posting more about the 2009 UCET Technology Grants
soon in upcoming newsletters and on the UCET website. Here is
a great opportunity to fund a classroom technology project that
you’ve been hoping to do.
Page 9
Remember the first USB? It moved data at a leisurely 12MBs. USB
2.0 came along and increased the date rate to 480MBs. Coming
soon... USB 3.0 (also called USB SuperSpeed) will increase the rate
tenfold.
One nice aspect of the new USB will be that it remains compatible
with the older USB equipment and ports, physically and functionally. Of course, you’ll need USB 3.0 peripherals to take advantage
of the increased data rate - but your USB 2 and USB 1 devices will
still plug in and work on the new ports.
One thing you’ll notice about USB 3.0 cables is that they are noticeably thicker. That’s because USB 3 adds five new lines. The data
highway just became a freeway - allowing data transfers at 4.8GBs.
Intel Corporation gives the example of copying a 27GB movie. On
USB 2 that would take about fifteen minutes. At USB 3 speeds, it
would only take 70 seconds.
Until some improvements to hard drives occur, they will be hard
pressed to move data that fast. The limitation will be the rotation
speed of the hard drive. Flash storage devices will benefit most.
The speed improvement will be a huge time saver for those who
work with large files or backing up the terrabyte hard drives that
are now commonplace. I had to back up a 500 GB hard drive a
week ago. I started the backup at about 8 AM, and by the end of
the day (6 PM) it was nearly finished. I can hardly wait for the new
technology to reach the market!
USB 3.0 is expected to reach market in the early part of 2010.
In the image below, you can see the difference between a standard
USB plug and the new USB 3.0 plug. You can see where the new
lines are - and yet still make the plug compatible with the older
versions.
You can read the Intel press releases at the following URLs...
Link: http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20070918comp.htm
Link:
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20080813corp.htm
PC Magazine’s Top 10 Deal-Tracking Sites
Mind Maps and Free Mind Mapping Software
Doing some shopping online? PC Magazine suggests these
sites as the best places to comparison shop and hunt down
great deals...
A mind map is a thinking tool that reflects what goes on in the
brain. When two bits of information intersect, an idea is formed.
Then the idea triggers radiant thinking. This means that the brain
makes countless associations, radiating in all directions.
http://www.become.com
Take a look at this video in which Tony Buzan talks about why mind
maps work and how to use them.
http://www.techbargains.com
Link:
http://www.pricegrabber.com
http://www.frucall.com
http://www.shopzilla.com
http://www.bitsdujour.com
http://www.mysimon.com
http://www.woot.com
http://www.google.com/products
http://www.dealighted.com
Source: http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/0,1206,l%253D234427%252
6a%253D234428,00.asp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlabrWv25qQ&eurl=http://
writetodone.com/2008/12/01/how-to-use-a-genius-tool-for-writers-mindmaps/&feature=player_embedded
Many educators use mind mapping strategies with their students
to help them think creatively, and to organize writing.
“Mind Mapping is a process of pictorially representing your
thoughts on paper or any other medium such that you as well as
others are able to track and comprehend your thoughts better.
Now a days, the trend is to use a specialized software to create
mind maps and export them to various file formats. There are
numerous mind mapping software around, some of them open
source and others propritery. XMind is one such mind mapping software which has recently been released as Open Source
software. It comes in two versions - XMind and XMind Pro. The Pro
version has a few additional features such as exporting your map
as PDF, MSWord Doc, PowerPoint or Gantt chart.
XMind is built on top of the Eclipse platform and is plugin based.
So the difference between the free XMind and the paid XMind Pro
is that the latter has access to more plug-ins. Irrespective of which
one you use, you can freely upload the mind maps you create to
XMind repository online and share it with others.” (xmind.net, also
image below)
Link:
Page 10
http://www.xmind.net/
The Council for Exceptional Children
PBS Lists Their Resources for Teachers
The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving educational outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities, students with
disabilities, and/or the gifted. CEC advocates for appropriate governmental policies, sets professional standards, provides continual
professional development, advocates for newly and historically
underserved individuals with exceptionalities, and helps professionals obtain conditions and resources necessary for effective
professional practice.
Link:
Link:
http://www.cec.sped.org
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/resourceroundups/
Looking for teaching materials related to PBS and PBS for Kids
programs. This is the place to look. From their site, “PBS.org and
PBS KIDS web sites are full of great content and activities that
teachers can use to enhance teaching and learning. Here, you will
find summaries of on-air and online resources organized by subject
and/or topic. We hope these will help you get acquainted with our
free educational content, use it in your teaching and share it with
parents and colleagues.”
The Center for Education Reform (CER)
The Center for Education Reform drives the creation of better
educational opportunities for all children by leading parents, policymakers and the media in boldly advocating for school choice,
advancing the charter school movement, and challenging the
education establishment.
Through its storehouse of data and unique insights into American
communities, CER uses information to turn parents into activists,
policymakers into advocates, and educators into reform leaders.
The Center for Education Reform changes laws, minds and cultures
to allow good schools to flourish.
The Center for Education Reform is a 501c(3) public, non-profit
corporation organized in the District of Columbia in 1993. Support
for CER comes from more than 1,000 individuals, foundations, and
civic leaders. For more information, contact CER at (301) 986-8088
Link:
http://www.edreform.com
Page 11
P.E. Central
Link:
http://www.pecentral.org/
From their website: “Welcome to the premier site for health and
physical education teachers, parents, and students. Our goal is to
provide the latest information about developmentally appropriate
physical education programs for children and youth. To combat the
high obesity rate, we offer motivational kids fitness programs such
as Log It, the PEC Challenge, and more. We have over 1600 published lesson ideas. We encourage you to share your lesson ideas
which are reviewed by our editorial team. Additional information
about who we are and our awards are available.
Our best
wishes to
you, dear
UCET friends.
May you have a
most wonderful
and joyous
holiday season!
Sincerely,
The UCET Board
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