Even Better Foliotek Instructions

Here are the latest instructions for Foliotek. Danielle Tasker and Taylr Irvin called to my attention that the old Foliotek instructions provided a link to the Evaluatio Form that would not work. Thanks to them you now have an even better set of Foliotek instructions. If you are still working on Foliotek, USE THESE INSTRUCTIONS!

Thank you Danielle and Taylor!

Waiting for Your Podcast to Do Your Blog Post?

All Podcasts have now been posted.

Final Blog due midnight 12/3

Trip to Daphne High School ACCESS Lab

Hello everyone! I am responding to all of you that have emailed me about the Access Lab Visit for EDM310.
The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, 11/19/2008 at 1:00. This seems to be the time that was best for most of all that responded to the post. We will be going to Daphne High School and our appointment is with Joe Roh who is the coordinator of the IB/ACCESS lab. I actually live if Baldwin County, but I believe that most of the rest of you are coming from the Mobile Campus in case several of you want to get up and ride over together...just remember our appointment is at Daphne HS at 1:00. If you have any questions please feel free to email me.

Thanks and have a great weekend!

Tina Dillen

Click Here to email Tina.

Payout 2 Movie Now Has Sound

The Payout 2 Movie had no sound. That has been corrected. The Payout 2 movie with sound will be available about 2:45 pm today. It is now being uploaded. Click in the same place as beforw.

Practice for Exam!

The exam on spreadsheets is Tuesday and Friday.

Bring Your Brain
PRACTICE!

A New Post on How Payments Work

A new post has been added to the Syllabus and Handouts section covering how payments work.
It is called Dealing With Payments

New Instructional Video on Google Documents

A new instructional video on Google Documents has been added to the list of Instructional Videos.

Still Need to Make ACCESS Lab Visit?

Tina Dillen sent me this email:

I have contacted Joe Roh, the coordinator of the International Baccalareate program or ACCESS lab at Daphne High school about doing a visit for our class. He mentioned that in the past he has had several people from your class that have come to visit and asked me to see if there are any other students in our class that can come together so he can just do one big group of us instead of one or two at a time several different times. He is open early Monday (11/17) AM and before 12:00 on Wednesday(11/19). Can you send out a group email to all the class so that maybe we can see which time is better for everyone and maybe get a sign up sheet so I can let Mr. Roh know which time is better and how many people will be coming? I would send it through the e-companion, but that does not have ewveryone's gmail address that we are all using. I let Mr. Roh know that the class meets tomorrow and I will get back with him tomorrow afternoon and I will let him know how many and which day.

Thanks,

Tina S. Dillen

If you are interested send Tina an email IMMEDIATELY. E-MAIL TINA DILLEN. Her address is tinadillen@gmail.com

Revised Word Processing Diagnostic with Instructions Posted

Google changes. And so does the Diagnostic Exam. It has been revised and some Instructions have been added. You can find it on the right under Syllabus and Handouts as Word Processing Diagnostic Revised.

End of the Semester Check List

This is week 12.
1. Presentation. This should have been embedded in your blog a long time ago. Due Week 5.
2. Your iGoogle Page. I have looked at YOUR iGoogle page. Due Week 9.
3. Your blog that demonstrates at least 6 Google Gadgets that you would find on an iGoogle page that you would use for a class. The link to this blog should be on your master blog. Due Week 9. This does NOT apply to the Wednesday night class.
4. Your "Professional Blog". This is the blog that describes your "teaching tools" or "teaching attributes." There should be a link to this blog on your master blog. Due Week 9.
5. PODCAST. These have been done and are being published daily through the first week in December.
6. Your Data Base (Address Book). Share with me as a collaborator. NOTE: Google changed its sharing menu last Thursday (11/6/08)and now you would Share and Invite Me To Edit.. This applies only to the sharing of Spreadsheets at the present. Document sharing still uses the term "As collaborator." Due Week 12 (NOW).
7. Your Master Blog is due (COMPLETE) at MIDNIGHT on Wednesday December 3.
8. Your ACESS/ALEX Visit. Report in your Master Blog and post pictures in your blog. Due MIDNIGHT Wednesday December 3.
9. Your "VISIT/CORRESPONDENCE" with a teacher or student elsewhere. Report in your Master Blog. Due MIDNIGHT Wednesday December 3.
10. Spreadsheet Exams will be given over two days Tuesday and Thursday November 18 and 20 or 1 day Wednesday November 19.
11. Word Processing Exam will be given Tuesday November 25. (Wednesday class on November 20)
12. Later this week or no later than Tuesday of next week you will get an email from me to your GMail address with the evaluation form for the Presentations. Fill out the form as quickly as possible.
13. IMPORTANT. Be sure that all of the images (pictures) on your Master Blog and on your Professional Blog comply with accessibility guidelines. That means you should have put what you want read to a blind person inside the ALT modifier in the IMG tag and you should have added a TITLE modifier (after the ALT modifier) which containing the source for your picture or graphic.

Absolute References Handout and Movies

A handout covering Absolute References, creating a Multiplication Table, and creating a Foreign Currency Budget has been added to the Syllabus and Handouts section of this blog. This material was covered in Week 12.

In addition, two instructional movies have been added to the Instructional Movies list. One covers the Multiplication Tabel exercise. the second covers the construction of a Budget in Two Currencies.

VOTE!

Vote for the candidates of your choice. VOTE!

Handout on Spreadsheets now Available

See the Syllabus and Handouts section.

Instructional Videos Added

Instructional Videos have been added. Most deal with material to be covered this week and next relating to spreadsheets. A few cover material covered earlier in the course.

Week 11 and New Handouts

In Week 11 we covered Databases and the function CONCATENATE. We also made a new blog in which we displayed 6 or more Google Gadgets that might be useful for teachers. Handouts covering Using CONCATENATE in a Database and Creating a Blog of Google Gadgets are now available under the Syllabus and Handouts area to the right.

Data Base Video Now Available

I have posted links to 2 videos covering Data Base creation under Instructional Videos by John H. Strange on the right side of this blog.

I said in class there was a handout. That is incorrect. I only have the videos as support materials.

Another Possible Source for Teacher Contacts

From Patricia Robbins:
Here is another place where students could possibly find a teacher for the electronic contact assignment: Check This Out.

For additional information see Patricia's Blog.

Week 10

Week 10 was devoted to the development of a Prefessional blog for each student describing the student's teaching tools and approaches. This replaces the web site assignment in the syllabus. Detailed instructions are available and the link to them can be found in the Syllabus and Handouts section on the right side of this blog.

Podcasts

Our podcasts have been approved by Apple and are available on iTunes. To find our podcast, go to the iTunes Store. Select Podcasts. Then do a Power Search. Search for "It's Time for Technology Talk" in the Title section. Then Subscribe to the Podcast. Next go to the Podcast section of YOUR iTunes (not the Store). You will finf an entry for It's Time for Technology Talk. Get any missing episodes and play any episode. Connect your iPod, iTouch or iPhone to your computer and down load the podcasts!
You can keep up to date on the podcasts by going to the EDM 310 Podcast Blog.

New Web Site Instructions

The instructions for completing your "Web Site" have completely changed. Follow these INSTRUCTIONS. I have created an example of what your finished product should be like. Check it out by CLICKING HERE.

Have You Contacted A Teacher From Somewhere Else Yet? If Not, A Suggestion!

While preparing for my podcast, I found a website that is a great way to connect with other teachers. Go to TEACHERS.NET and look for the chatboard. There you will find requests from teachers for penpals for their students. Make a contact and get your homework done. -Shyanne Fant

Wednesday Class WILL Meet October 22

The Wednesday Class was originally scheduled to not meet on October 22 in exchange for ALEX and ACCESS visits.

HOWEVER, this has been changed. The class WILL MEET next Wednesday, October 22. The off day will be October 29.

Week 9

Podcasts!

We have 1 remaining in the 11 and the 2 TT classes. The Wednesday class and the TT 4 class completed their podcasts this week.

Podcasts will be posted during Week 10 and links to all podcasts through this site will be available no later than October 27. It is hoped that syndication through iTunes will begin October 27 as well.

Week 8

In the Tuesday Thursday classes we covered
1. Picasa. Picasa is a Google program (more...even more...Picasa) which
a. helps organize your photographs
b. provides a method for selecting your "better" pictures and putting them in a folder
c. Color correcting photos
d. Adding all sorts of effects to photos
e. Sending photographs to printers
f. Creating CDs of photographs
g. Sending pictures to blogs (an example is in the immediately preceding blog with the picture of an iris.
h. Creating a "Web Album", an example of which can be found in the second previous post. Actually, you already have a Web Album since Google now sends all pictures you upload for your blog to your web album. It will become visible to you when you use Picasa's Web Album tool
i. Creating an "html page" which is not really a page but a collection of pages that work together as if there was one page and lots of other pages that show larger versions of the pictures displayed.

Additional information can be found about Picasa from Google's help area and on the web in general.

Web Site
All classes also covered the start of the development of a web site. We will continue this is Week 10. You need a plan! Create your plan in Google Documents and share your plan with me. You will need 6 "pages (actually separate blogs) for you web site. Your web site must be focused on the tools, approaches or techniques you use as a teacher. The first "page" must be about you, have an approriate picture of you on it, and have links to all the other "pages" in your "web site" (actually a collection of blogs). So here is an outline of what my web site might look like:
1. John Strange's Teaching Tools and Approaches
2. Blogs
3. Google Gadgets
4. Google Documents
5. Google Spreadsheets
6. Google Presentations
and I certainly do not have to stop at 6 pages so I will continue with pages emphasizing the roles I try to model...
7. No Burp Back Education
8. I Don't Know...Let's Find Out
9. It's Free
and ...

If you missed this class do your plan and share it with me as a Collaborator (strange.john@gmail.com)

4 O'clock Class

 

Web Album of Canada

I hope you enjoy my Web Album of Canada.

Just to Remind You....Podcasts Are Elementary

You should read this short blog post by Melissa D'Amico called Podcasts Are Elementary.

ALT and TITLE Instructions

Instructions for adding ALT and TITLE modifiers are now available in the Syllabus and Handouts portion of this blog.

Are You in Compliance With Accessibility Guidelines?

Check your blog and your website! Did you complete the ALT modifiers when you added a picture to your blog or web site? Steve Sullivan demonstrated the use of Wave 3.5 to check your blog or web site for compliance. Check yours now!

Accessibility Issues for the Internet

In Week 7 we heard from Mr. Steve Sullivan. His presentation Accessibility For All is now available on his blog Let's Tech Talk.who demonstrated several adaptive devices that individuals with disabilities can use to make working with a computer more efficient and effective. Mr. Sullivan also demonstrated an attachment to his computer which increased the size of the text on the page as well as Jaws which is a program that reads material to a blind person. We were then able to hear what students have put in ALT modifiers of an IMG tag.

Podcast Assignments

Podcast Assignments have been made and you have been sent an Email regarding your Podcast Topic and the names of the members of your team. You should contact all of the members of your team and begin preparing for your Podcast.

Here you can download a list of Podcast Assignments By Class so that you can see what topics others i your class have. Give them suggestions if you can.

Students in several classes are assigned to the same topic. Downoad Assignments Podcast Assignments Sorted by Topic here. You may want to contact students in other classes assigned to the same topic that you are. You can contact them through their blog. All student bogs are listed on the class blog web site. Look them up and send them an email. For students in W6 you will find them listed in the Class Blog for Ms. Jennifer Averitt. If their email links are not up now, they will be by next Thursday.

Oops! More on iGoogle Assignment

Sorry! I messed up and didn't show you how to do the second (student) iGoogle Page. So that assignment is delayed. I will cover this next week and have changed the draft due date to Week 8.

Week 6

In week 6 we:
1. Finished Presentations. If you have not given your presentation I will need your medical excuse and we will have to make arrangements for the presentation.
2. All students shared their presentations with me as a collaborator. (See previous post). They also published their Presentations and added them to their blogs.
3. All students added a link to allow email to be sent to them. A handout will be posted explaining how to do this.
4. We reviewed the new Blog Topic Assignments. See link under Syllabus and Handouts to the right for Blog Topics 2.
5. Students were sent a form requesting that choices be made for Podcasts. A reply is due no later than Friday 9/26 at midnight. Students will be notified of team members and topics by Sunday 9/27 midnight.
6. We reviewed the mechanics of using iTunes and iTunes U.
7. We added Google Talk to the personal iGoogle pages of all students.
8. In the Wednesday night Fairhope class we covered Picasa.

Next Steps With Your Presentation

1. Share Your Presentation
Click on the Share Tab in Google DOCS. Share your presentation as a collaborator with strange.john@gmail.com. You should also UNCHECK the two boxes below the box where you list those with whom to share your presentation.

2. Publish Your Presentation
Click on the Publish Tab in Google DOCS. Google will provide code that you can paste in any blog or web site in order to show your presentation. Copy the code provided by Google. You will need this in in Step 3.

3. Add Your Presentation to Your Blog
Open your blog and add a Post. In the Title put My Presentation. In the text area make sure that the Edit Html Tab is selected. Then paste the code you copied from Step 2 into the text area for your post. Publish Post. Your Presentation is now available through your blog.

Podcast Topics

In Week 9 you will participate in a podcast. Three or four students will discuss a topic for approximately 15 minutes. You must PREPARE for this conversation. I have prepared a list of Podcast Topics. Read over this Podcast Topics, select your five favorires and rank them in order of your preference. I have sent you an EMail with a form embedded. Fill out this form listing your topic choices in order of preference. This must be completed by midnight Friday September 26. I will notify you of your topic by midnight Sunday September 28. You can then get started on your research for your topic.

Week 5 - Presentations!

Presentations! Next week these presentations will be available on each student's blog. Evaluations will be posted next week on a Form. Bring your evaluation sheets with you to next week's class (Tuesday or Wednesday). Everything to do with Presentations will be completed in the first class session next week (Week 6).

Week 4

Tuesday/Thursday Classes covered:
Google Earth
iTunes
We also introduced podcasts and videocasts and began the exploration of educational podcasts and videocasts through iTunes (See Handout)
RSS feeds, what they are, why they are useful, how to use them (See Handout)

Wednesday Night Class covered:
Foliotek (See Handout)
Word processing
Introduction to Web Pages
Preparation for Presentation

Correcting Links That Do Not Work

The four most important reason that links do not work are:
1.The link is not correctly spelled. For example, I misspelled MY NAME in a link earlier today. Silas caught it and did not believe me when I said it was intentional. And he was right. I just made a mistake!
2. Nothing is placed between the two parts of an a tag. I will demonstrate this to you.
Apple's Web Site which you may find interesting.
3. You forgot to include http:// in the address. It must be included.
4, Sometimes Google doesn't like a / after the address. Try removing it.

New Articles

Ms. Averitt has located two very interesting articles about RSS Feeds and Podcasting. I have posted them under Syllabus and Handouts, but I am going to also put the links for them here.
The ABC's of RSSS Feeds
Podcasting: Just the Basics
I have also added a User Guide for Google Earth.

Week 3

Tuesday/Thursday Classes
In week 3 one class session was devoted entirely to working on the presentation project
In the other session we covered ...
1) Foliotek - see handout under Syllabus and Handouts
2) Google Notebook - See Google Help and Tips. Handout distributed and will be added to this blog soon.
3) Google Reader (as part of the using of RSS Feeds) - See Google Help and Tips
4) RSS feeds, what they are, why they are useful, how to use them

Wednesday night class (Fairhope)
1) RSS feeds, what they are, why they are useful, how to use them
2) Google Reader (as part of the using of RSS Feeds)
3) Google Earth
4) Google Talk
5) Google Notebook
6) iTunes
7) We also introduced podcasts and videocasts and began the exploration of educational podcasts and videocasts through iTunes.

Week 2

In Week 2 we covered ...
1) How to use Google Docs Presentation to make a presentation (Due Week 5)
2) How to search in Google using specialized Google search techniques including Images, Maps, Scholar, University,Blogs, Books, Groups, Video, Phone Numbers, Advanced Searches and Search Preferences
3) How to find the source of images taken from the wem and how to acknowledge the source on presentation pages
4) How to add a Google theme to a presentation
5) How to add text and images to a presentation slide and how to move them and resize them when necessary
6) How to rearrange the order of slides in Presentation
7) How to run the presentation
8) How to expand the presentation window so that the slide fills the entire window
9) How to move forward and backward in a presentation
10) How to conduct oneself when presenting
11) How to create an iGoogle page
12) How to find and add "stuff" to an iGoogle page
13) How to scan pictures
14) How fast technology changes, especially iGoogle, and to understand how to cope with rapidly changing technologies

If you are having problems with any of these, email me.

Gustav and IMPORTANT MESSAGE for TUESDAY Classes

At noon on Sunday the University indicated that the University intended to operate on a normal schedule on Tuesday. You can keep up to date by consulting the University Home Page or by calling 251-460-6999.

HOWEVER I want you to use your best judgement in making a decision as to whether to come to EDM 310 on Tuesday. I will be there if the University is open. But it will be a "work on your presentation" session only. NO NEW MATERIAL WILL BE COVERED TUESDAY.

Technology Changes - and so does iGoogle!

Google reminds us that everything they do is in "Beta" which means they are constantly changing and improving all their products when appropriate. Today (Thursday), a day after the post below about iGoogle, I have been notified that my iGoogle pages have been changed because I have been selected as "one of the first users to preview" the new features of iGoogle. So now iGoogle is different for me (and maybe you too.) Always look for a Learn More link. Then click on it.

Another reminder that the technology we use in education is CONSTANTLY changing. Be alert. Take advantage of the opportunities afforded you to learn something new. The instructions we give you may be out of date instantly!

Links To Other 310 Class Blogs

The first link is posted to Ms. Jennifer Averitt's class. See the section of Other EDM 310 Class Blogs on the right.

iGoogle Instructions and Foliotek Instructions Posted

You can now find links to iGoogle Instructions and Foliotek Instructions in the Syllabus and Handouts link to the right.

Blog Topics Dates Corrected

I have corrected the dates on the Blog Topics Handout. You may want to replace the list you have with the corrected version. The link is on the right under Syllabus and Handouts.

Does The Link To Your Blog Work?

Does the link to your blog work? Have you made the required post? These are important questions. The links to the blogs of all of my EDM 310 students are found below. (I will create a link on the side also as soon as I get all the links working.)

If the link to your blog does not work, email me the correct URL.

If you have not made the post that was required by Thursday midnight (I didn't look until today so Friday midnight was OK), do so now. You cannot afford to get behind in your blog posts.

If you did not get a Blog Topics (Blog Assignments) handout, it is available under Syllabus and Handouts on the right side of this page.

Check Your GMail Account Regularly

I will be using GMail to contact you in this class. Be sure you check your GMail account regularly!

Student Blogs W6

Christina Ardoin
Delana Bemis
Christopher Borchardt
Kellie Brooks
Allison Davis
Brooke Elder
Virginia Grant
Albani Grice
Angelia Heyer
Heather Rodgers
Carmen O'Connor
Brian O'Gwynn
Nikita Reed
Sandi Sadlock

Student Blogs TTh 4

Joshua Andry
Keri Ashworth
Shaun Bethel
Jasmyne Curtis
Tina Dillen
Lisa Frye
Joel Graham
John Hardman
Autumn Jordan
Kimberly Kelly
Sara Large
Allison Midgette
Carlisha Portis
LaShonda Pruitt
Noelle Shipman
Silas Smith
Andrea Williams

Student Blogs TTh 11

Kathy Bentley
Lisa Burke
Hannah Callais
Kimberly Dees
Stephanie Ellis
Brennan Gibson
Taylor Irvin
Brett Kittrell
Jalisa Mobley
Scarlett Moore
Courtney Morris
Jenny Moseley
Hanna Nolan
Kerrie Owens
Patricia Robbins
Bree Smith
Maegan St. Amant
Mandy Sullivan
Danielle Tasker
Ashley Wheeler

Student Blogs TTh 2

Amanda Bentley
Ashley Cleveland
Rachel Davis
Ashley Denson
Shyanne Fant
Daniel Griffin
Jennifer Harris
Alison Hawes
Theola Hines
Myrenda Howze
Adrienne Lynch
Amelia Perkins
Sandra Presley
Joylyn Reese
Erica Sledge
Larrica Smith
Brian Stevens
Robyn Terry
Justin Tullis
Brandy Wimberly

ALT and TITLE Modifiers in IMG Tags

All images (except your picture on your blog) which you include in your blog or web site MUST have ALT and TITLE modifiers added to the IMG tag that causes a picture to be shown on a page on the internet.

The ALT modifier provides information about an image that will be read to a blind person using a special computer to access the internet. Steve Sullivan,EDM 310 graduate assistant this semester, wants those ALT tags so he can "see" a picture through words!

We are using the TITLE modifier to provide information about the source of the image on the page.

In your blog, Google gives you a starting place.

1. Look for ALT=""
2. Click inside the quotation marks
3. Type what you want read to a blind visitor to your blog who can't see your picture but wants to hear about it.
4. Next, click just beyond the second quotation mark. Add a space
5. Type TITLE="
6. Type the source for your picture. I usually add Source: in front of the actual source. For example Source:Getty Images
7. Don't forget to type the ending quotation mark when you have finished.

When you start working on your website you will have to add both modifiers to the IMG tag since Google will not provide you with ALT="" in the web development tool.

We will discuss this more later.

Week 1 Summary

We..
1. Discussed the course, the projects, the requirements, my desire that EVERYONE will do their very best in this class and earn an A
2. You signed up for a Google account and started Project 1: Your Blog. Links to blogs should appear this weekend on this class blog.
3. We demonstrated how to add ALT and TITLE modifiers to IMG tags in the HTML code that places an image (picture) on a web page. Separate notes are available (see next post above).
4. I took your pictures and you added them to your blog. You should also be able to substitute your own picture for mine if you so desire.
5. I suggested that you should think about Project 2: Your Presentation (due Week 5) which must be about YOU! I suggested that you create a storyboard (draw boxes and write notes on what you will do with your slides). A little text and at least one image (but not too many) on at least 14 slides. I also indicated that the presentation itself was just as important as the creation of the presentation in Google Docs Presentation.
6. You completed two forms, a math diagnostic and a questionnaire on plagiarism. (If you have not completed these, see me for instructions. They are REQUIRED).
7. I distributed several handouts. ALL handouts can be found through links on this Class Blog.
8. You must now make twice a week posts to your blog following the instructions in the Blog Topics (Blog Assignments) handout. DO NOT FALL BEHIND! You cannot do the work for this course at the last minute!
9. Did I forget anything? If I did, leave a comment by clicking COMMENT below.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Strange sections of EDM 310! Read this post and check your University eail for two emails from me.

A syllabus has been posted. You can find the link to the right under the heading Syllabus and Handouts.

A list of Blog Topics has also been posted in the same place.

I have also posted a link to a document titled Creating A Blog. We will create a blog the first week of class. To od that you will need a Google account. The Creating A Blog document explains how to do this. It is easier to do if you accept my invitation to establish a Google account which I will be sending you in an email sometime today or tomorrow. My hope is that all class members will have a Google account before class on Wednesday or Thursday. That will not happen, but the fewer accounts we have to establish in class, the better. If you already have a Google account, you may use it for this class. You will need a new Blogger Blog, however. If you are eager to get started, an instructional video is available to help you Create A Blog. It can be found, again on the right, under the heading Instructional Videos By John Strange

Since I have only your USA email addresses, check your University email for a welcome note calling attention to this blog.

A second email containing the invitation to establish a Google account will follow shortly after that.

I will take your picture Tuesday. Be forewarned!

Welcome to EDM 310!

John Strange