Recently Answered Questions 10-13-09

How can I safe guard my privacy on Facebook?

How can I use a copy machine to scan a document and email it to someone?

SISK12: How can I print an individual student progress report that lists all the assignment with scores, as well as the current grade?

SISK12: How can I find if a student has an IEP?

SISK12: How can I access a recently withdrawn student to enter scores for his last assignment?

SISK12: How can I view a student’s attendance history for my class?

SISK12: In my gradebook, how can I view assignments by date, instead of sorted by type?

SISK12: In my gradebook, can I sort students by something other than their last name?

My students completed digital storytelling projects with Windows Movie Maker projects on one computer and then logged in on another to show the movie, but it didn’t work. When we try to play the video, it can’t find any of their media.

First, students need to develop the practice of creating a project folder in which they copy all the source files to be used in the project. They should also save their project file in this folder. Once the project is started, you can not move or rename the source files. The concept of a project folder applies to PowerPoint slideshows and Photostory projects as well.

When using flash drives, if a different drive letter is assigned to the flash drive when plugged into a different computer, WMM may not be able to find the source files. This situation can also occur when a teacher logs in to accesses the student’s folder. The path to that student’s folder is different with a teacher log in, as opposed to when the student logs in. You can usually repair the missing file situation by right clicking on each of the missing files and choosing Browse for Missing File.

It is apparent from your question that the students did not complete the movie maker process, did not produce the movie by completing the 3rd step, “Save to my computer.” Had they done so, this single generated file could have been accessed and played with Window Media Player, regardless of where any source files were stored.

I would like to make an overhead or scan a piece of paper so that I could use it in class.  It is silly to make a copy for each child when I only want to use it for 3 or 4 minutes.  I have a hard copy and I know I could use a document camera, but I want to make it so I could come back to it later on in the week for a minute or two…how could I do this?

You can take a picture of it with the document camera. It will store the image on the camera itself. You will be able to pull the image back up to display in the future. Or….you can scan it on the copy machines in the main office, choosing to email it to yourself. This will arrive as a pdf file. You can then store this on your station and display at any time.

My student has a video on her cell phone that she would like to use in a school project. How can we get the video from the phone to a school station?

Many video sharing sites provide an email address to be used to upload videos. If the student has the ability to send emails from his/her phone, he/she could email this video. Vimeo, for example, provides free accounts and is not blocked by the filter. You could set up a class Vimeo account and share the upload email address with your students.  From the Vimeo site you will be able to download the student’s video onto a station.

My students are attempting to sign up for a Google Docs account, but it is requiring a mobile phone number for verification. Is there another way?

Recently Google Docs added this mobile phone number verification to combat spammers. At this time, the help forums offer not suggestions, but do contain complaints from many teachers. We are currently investigating the possibility of using Google Apps for Educators, which may resolve this issue.

Recently Answered Questions September 13

Click the question to view the handout with the answer.

I want to download videos from PBS and npr, but there isn’t a download option. How can I do this?

These sites do not want you to download their video content. They intentionally don’t provide a download feature, and design their website to prohibit downloading through the use of the browser addons or other software. They wish to protect their copyrighted content. You will have to stream, or play the videos directly from their website. We have to be cautious about streaming, since it uses significant bandwidth and could compromise our network if over done. I would suggest checking the iTunes store for vodcasts (podcasts = audio only; vodcasts = audio and video). You may find the same video available here, with the option to download it. You don’t need an ipod to access these videos. They will play full screen from iTunes.

vodcast

A video won’t play on a website that is not blocked by the filter. What is wrong?

If you are sure the filter isn’t the culprit, you probably need to update your flash player. Whenever updating these players, they often volunteer additional software that you may not want (Google Toolbar, McAfee antivirus) so be sure to uncheck any boxes for additional software not needed.

googletoobar

If using Internet Explorer, be sure to watch for the yellow notification bar to display near the tool bar requesting your permission to proceed with this installation.

ieflash

My Lumens document camera’s zoom features don’t work any more.

Make sure it isn’t set to half page, or the image isn’t rotated. Press the Half Page button on the camera until the largest area possible is displayed. Then try to zoom in and out. Or, press the Rotate button, try to zoom. If it doesn’t work, repeat until it does. You can see my recently updated handout for further information on using the camera.

How can I make a Word document a PDF?

If you are using Word 2007, click the Office button, go to Save As, and look for PDF or XPS. If this option is not available, install the MS Office 2007 Save as PDF Add In.

wordpdf

Recently Answered Questions August 25th

SISK12

Click the question to view the handout with the answer.

  1. Can I print an individual student report listing all their assignment and current grade?
  2. Can I print a class grade report that lists each student by number, not name?

My students want a club website that they can edit, post pictures on, ask and answer questions, etc. I want to have total control over what appears on the website. Should I use Facebook for this?

I think the best tool for this situation is a class blog. You can use WordPress.com to create a free class blog with options to add students as contributors, meaning they can write articles for the blog, but the articles won’t appear until the teacher approves them. You also have the option to allow visitors to leave comments, but those comments are moderated by the teacher prior to appearing on the blog. For your convenience, you can choose to receive an email whenever a comment awaits approval. You can reference my WordPress handout, email me and I’ll get you started.

The District has recently published a Social Networking Best Practices document for our staff’s reference.

I found a video on YouTube that I want to use in a PowerPoint slideshow. How can I make that happen?

First, since YouTube is blocked at school you will have to do this at home, or ask me to do it for you. I charge a small few for such services….not really. ;>) Zamzar is a free online tool for downloading and converting video files. Here are the steps:

youtube

zamar

*The email will contain a link for you to click to go to the Zamzar website to download the converted video file. This link is good for up to 1 day from receipt of email message. This process of taking the video from YouTube to Zamzar, converting, and downloading to your station takes several minutes.

To insert the video into a powerpoint slide:

powerpoint

If when you play the video you hear audio, but the video remains a black box you may need to disable video acceleration.