Smartboard verses do-it yourself??

This topic was brought out by one of our business teachers who wants to ditch her Smartboard and go with an Apple-TV type setup, but she did not know if that was possible so I looked into it.  It you go with the Smartboard option, bought straight from the factory with some extra stuff, the bill came out to $5099.  I shopped for all the stuff I would need to replicate the Smartboard experience, and that bill came out to $3010.  A savings of over $2000. Below is the list of things I compared.  Discuss amongst yourselves! 

SMARTBOARD OPTION.  Estimate total $5099

• Smartboard: 77", 4:3 display ratio or 83", 16:10 ratio--more expensive.
• Smartboard: Single-touch or Multi-touch (add $600 more).
• Smart remote clickers: 32 clickers-$2,520, 24-clickers ($1,985).
• Projector
• Speakers: $289
• Installation: $500

DO IT YOURSELF OPTION.  Estimate total $3,010 with 1 Ipad, ($2,400 with out Ipad)

• 65" inch Toshiba HDTV (Tiger Direct): $1,000
• Apple TV Version 3: $100
• MacBook Pro (made after Mid-2011) $1,200.  With Apple TV Version 3 and a post 2011 MacBook Pro with Mountain Lion OS, you can stream your desktop to the TV via Apple TV.  Any earlier version of Apple TV or older model MacBook, Air Play will not work.
• Air Parrot app: $10.  Allows you to stream your Mac desktop to Apple TV.  Only buy if you have an older MacBook that doesn't support Air Play.  
• Ipad: $600
• Doceri desktop app: $30. Turns your MacBook/Ipad into am interactive whiteboard.
• TV Bracket Mount (Tiger Direct): $70.
• Socrative student response app: 

A screen-cast tutorial on the basics of Audacity, the audio editing program.

Promote Digital Citizenship….10 Ideas For Rich Academic Student Discussions On The Internet

May 11, 2013
By: Michael Gorman Tech & Leaning Magazine.

How to embed YouTube videos into PowerPoint 2010. Method #2.

A RSA Animate adaptation of a talk given by Sir Ken Robinson on Changing Education Paradigms.

How to embed YouTube video into PowerPoint 2010. Method #1.

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum.  One of our teachers went to show her PowerPoint presentation which she created last year and updated this year, saving it as a .pptx 2010 file.  With horror she watched as the YouTube movies that she embedded refused to play, the screen went black and motionless.  We also got a message stating that our version of Flash needed to be updated.

The videos played fine in her web-browser but not in PowerPoint.  Her Flash was the latest update so what gives?? I determined that since it played in the web browser that it was not a problem with Flash but with PowerPoint.  For a lack of better terms, Flash somehow became (or never was or couldn't be) associated with PowerPoint.  It seems that this issue happens with versions of PowerPoint 2003 and later.

After some research I found 2 fixes.  The easiest one came from Shyam Pillai's YouTube Video Wizard (YTV) freeware page.  THANK YOU Mr. Pillai!!! 

You download the YTV zip file then;

1. Extract the contents of the zip to a folder. 

2. Launch PowerPoint.

3. Click on File tab in the top left hand corner | Underneath that go to Options. 

4. In the Options dialog, select the  Add-ins tab.

5. Select 'PowerPoint Add-ins' from the Manage drop down and click 'Go...'

6. On the Add-ins dialog, click 'Add New...' .

7. Navigate to the folder where the contents of the zip file was extracted and select 'YouTubeVideo2k7.ppa'   and click on OK.

8. You might be prompted with the macro virus warning. Enable the macros. When the Add-in is properly loaded, it will display a tick against the add-in name.

9. That's it. You have successfully loaded the add-in.

Look at the top of your screen (ribbon) in PowerPoint and click on the insert tab, it should look like this;

Look all the way to the right and you'll see "YouTube" video. Click that and follow the directions.  JUST A HEADS UP FOLKS...when it asks you to insert the URL of the video, don't use the one you get from YouTube's "share" or "embed" tools.  Copy the URL right from you web browser, GABBEESH? :-)

A future post will deal with the other method to embed.

U.S. Census Bureau’s New Web Tool - "Easy Stats"

The U.S. Census Bureau has released “Easy Stats,” an online tool developed to make statistics quicker and easier to access. The interactive tool provides selected demographic and economic statistics from the American Community Survey. “Easy Stats” allows searching by geography down to the local level, including incorporated places like cities and towns and census designated places. View detailed race, age and gender breakdowns, and compare communities.

http://www.census.gov/easystats/

Beginner's Guide to Research produced by Rutgers University

Are you sensing a theme yet?  After the last post, it occurred to me that there was another GREAT resource produced by Mr. Magoo's Alma Mater, Rutgers.  It's the Rutgers RIOT (Research Information Online Tutorial).  It's is an interactive beginner's guide to research.  They even give you a certificate when you pass all 5 modules! Click here to get started.

What is Plagiarism? A video produced by Rutgers University.

Thanks to the Massachusetts School Library Association Yahoo Groups and Alissa Rosellini of The International School of Boston for providing me with the link!

What's your financial I.Q?

Came across this article (pdf file) in March 3rd's Boston Sunday Globe and since this blog is about saving money AND education, I figured it would be a nice side trip!  The article talks about financial literacy and gives a 12 question quiz.  The Globe got the quiz from Northwestern Mutual, FINRA Investor Education Foundation.  A Harvard professor gave it to 50 students who attended a financial workshop hosted by the Harvard University Employees Credit Union.  

This is how the grading of the quiz broke down:

• A - 1%
• B - 5%
• C - 10%
• D - 15%
• F - 69%

The article and a paper from Northwestern Mutual went on to say that this country as a whole need to improve it financial literacy skills.  Take the quiz!  The slides will move after 5 seconds and the percentage of the students that got the answer right will be listed under the correct answer.