Let's Block All Learning Tools and Eliminate Classroom Distractions

A very good Blog post by David Britten, a retired U.S. Army officer, husband, father and current public school superintendent who practices the principles of "leading out loud."  It's so good I wish I wrote it.

Online lecture prompts legal fight on copyright (subject fair use).

Click here for the story from August 27th's edition of The Boston Globe.

Updating iTunes when it does not want to.

So here's the skinny, I have an HP laptop with Windows XP-service pack 3 and all the requirements to install an updated version of iTunes.  My installed version of iTunes was 9 (I know sooo 2008!!).  I bought a new iPod in November and wanted to see if I could get it to work with it.  I opened up my iTunes went to "help" and click on "check for updates". The response was "unable to connect to update server".  My next plan of attack was to download the new iTunes from Apple and install it. After a couple of tries, it could not be installed, seems as though a file or two got; corrupted, went missing, or was just plain out of date.  What to do?  Then I remembered... I went to "Start - Control Panel - Add or Remove Program - Apple Application Support.  Clicked on change (remember I'm in Windows XP) and chose "Re install Apple Application Support, replace missing or damage files."  It did what it was supposed to, updated and repaired the files I needed to update to the new iTunes.  The new iTunes installed without a hitch.  Who knew??

Massachusetts Library System's Reference sources and tools online.

Ever find a great site you used, bookmarked and then totally forgot about??  Well that's what happen with this one.  It is a collaboratively created resource from MLS member librarians, where you will find freely available online sources that have been deemed reliable by fellow librarians. Also included are tools that may be helpful in your Reference work.  It's is maintained by Anna Popp, of the Mass. Library System (MLS). Saw her in person and found her to be a great research instructor and  source. 
http://guides.masslibsystem.org/free_reference_resources

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.