Open Office Tools

Open Office is a solid, free alternative is to other Office Suites. It has similar overall functionality, which makes it a good option for a 2nd or 3rd machine that does not have access to the same tools.

"Compatible with other major office suites, Apache OpenOffice is free to download, use, and distribute. Download it now, and get:

• Writer a word processor you can use for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book.
• Calc a powerful spreadsheet with all the tools you need to calculate, analyze, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics.
• Impress the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations.
• Draw lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations.
• Base lets you manipulate databases seamlessly. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, all from within Apache OpenOffice.
• Math lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor. "

For working on files across two programs different, use "save as" to save your work in the right file type, such as .doc or .ppt format for document and power point compatibility with Microsoft Office. This software is completely open source, and free to use however you want.

Tech Session #1

Here are the slides and notes for my session on "Staff laptops" on October 15th:


Staff Laptops - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

Making the Most of your Staff laptop

1. Logging on and off speed
1. laptop is trying to sync your profile with the school server
2. if it’s taking forever, it may be trying to sync on a weak connection
3. for logging off, check your SFXSTAFF signal strength before you shut down
2. U: Drive - the Private Network drive
1. Can help down on log in and log off times.
2. Lots of space for big video/audio files
3. P: Drive - Public Network Drive
1. Can use it for sharing documents and files if necessary
2. Would advise against using it for simultaneous document work - use Google Docs for that instead
4. Using the scanner
1. Scan directly to the class folder in the P: Drive
2. Useful for scanning textbook pages, then using the projector to show them to the whole class.
3. A good way to back up material that you don’t have digitally (worksheet/quiz)
4. How-to pictures on slides
5. Printing
1. Which printer you can print to depends on what wireless network you are connected to.
1. sfxstaff1 - 5: allow you to use the printers on each floor
2. sfxschool: limited to only the lab printer + LAC for some computers (avoid using).
2. If you are having trouble printing from a laptop, double check which network you are connected to
3. If signal strength is low, see if there is an alternative sfxstaff connection that is stronger.

Aurasma - Customizable Augmented Reality

Aurasma is a free app that allows users to tag real-world objects or images with a video clip that plays when the object is viewed through the device. Since anything can be tagged, there are many ways to potentially use this in the classroom. Students could digitally augment their work, or teachers could add video to an image on a textbook or worksheet.

"See and interact with the world in a new way.

Thanks to Aurasma, every image, object and even place can have its own "Aura", which is our term for an augmented reality experience!  Through these Auras, magazines come to life with videos, adverts offer special deals through web click-throughs and quizzes, catalogues launch 3D product models, and much more.  Teachers also create Auras to add engaging digital information to printed materials in their classrooms. Simply use the free Aurasma mobile app to unlock Auras and share the experience with friends. Or get experimenting and use the simple tools within the app to create and share your own Auras."

 

Bibme - Citation Tools

Bibme is a website that is very useful for intermediate and high school students to build their reference or works cited list for an upcoming assignment. The site handles all the formatting for the user, and has a database of articles and books that is searchable by title, author, or ISBN number (for books).

"Welcome to Bibme

The fully automatic bibliography maker that auto-fills. It's the easiest way to build a works cited page. And it's free.

Search for anything
Search for a book, article, website, or film, or enter the information yourself.

Add it easily
Add it to your bibliography and continue citing to build your works cited list.

Download bibliography
Download your bibliography in either the MLA, APA, Chicago or Turabian formats. It's that easy!"

My StoryMaker

A web app that allows students to create simple animated stories using a drag and drop interface:

http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker/

http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker/embed.cfm

"You have the power to decide -- choosing characters, taking them on adventures and creating your very own story along the way. my StoryMaker® lets you control characters and objects -- and it creates sentences for you! Or, you can enter your own words. Once you are done with your story, you can print it out."

One thing I noticed when using this app: If you accidentally press the "end" button while creating your story, it is immediately "published" and then cannot be edited any further.

The app is able to generate a "magic code" which enables users to view or print their completed story at a later time.

Linking to Youtube with a specific Start and End time

Sometimes it can be useful to be able to link to a specific part of a Youtube video. Luckily, it is possible to send a video link with a specific start and end time.

Linking a specific start time is very simple, and is actually built into the "share" function on the Youtube video page. Below the any given video, click on the "share" tab, then look for the "start at" check box:

When you share this link, the video will start at the specified time for the viewer.



Specifying an end time is a little bit trickier, since we need to add the start and end time to the URL ourselves.

Adding the end time only seems to work if you are using the embed link (NOT the share link). Navigate to the "embed" tab and you'll see a long line of HTML code. For example:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/0Bmhjf0rKe8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Normally this line is for embedding the video into a webpage. Copy out the Youtube link from there (see example below).

www.youtube.com/embed/0Bmhjf0rKe8

To add the start and end time, we need to add it to the end of our Youtube link. Both the start and the end at counted in seconds, so a start time of 10 means it will start 10 seconds into the video, and a start time of 120 will start 2 minutes into the video. The format for this looks like this:

?start=10&end=15

Adding the above line to the end of our video link tells the website to start the video at 10 seconds in, and end it 15 seconds in. The full link would look like this.

www.youtube.com/embed/0Bmhjf0rKe8?start=10&end=15

MAPfrappe - Getting some Cartographic Perspective

An interesting website that is somewhat narrow in it's application, MAPfrappe lets users create outlines one one "map" and compare it to a second location around the world. The app automatically compensates for the slight size distortions at different latitudes which come out of how Google displays it's maps

MAPfrappe could be useful to share with a class studying Canada, or as a way to give students a direct sense of scale when discussing different countries around the world.