Technology in the Middle » Tech Tips

The iPhone Plunge

pwoessner — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 02:30:03 +0000

After two years of peer pressure (and no small measure of envy), this weekend I finally broke down, laid my trusty Motorola Razor to rest, and bought a 3GS iPhone. Although I’ve only been on the bandwagon a few days, at this point I can’t understand why I waited so long! Being able to manage my calendar, contacts, and email from any location has been a blessing for my Type-A personality, Twitter and Facebook are now accessible despite our web filter, and even simple phone calls (lest we forget, the iPhone IS a phone) seem more enjoyable now that I can “slide to answer”. The real wow factor of the iPhone, however, definitely has to be the plethora of applications (i.e. the App Store) that await.

Once I figured out the fundamentals, I turned to my Twitter network to ask which were the “must have” apps for someone in my position. As usual, my PLN more than came through; here’s a partial list of their excellent suggestions:

My newbie status and their enlightened suggestions made me realize educators could really benefit from a list of apps geared to our profession. To that end, I would like to compile a list of iPhone apps to share and thus would invite you to contribute your recommendations to this simple form. The results of your feedback will be available here and I’ll post a summary in the near future. In the meantime, thanks to all who helped get me started down the iPhone path and I hope that you’ll take a moment to pass along your top picks.

Tech Tips from the Classroom: Downloading Video

pwoessner — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:53:30 +0000

Showing clips from YouTube, TeacherTube, BlipTV and other sites has become common practice in many of our middle school classrooms. Because these videos are streamed, however, teachers are at the mercy of their Internet connection and the host server. Murphy’s Law seems to apply more frequently than not, and many of us have had to adjust our plans because the clip we wanted suddenly wouldn’t load.

Fortunately, there are a number of tools available that let users download streaming clips and play them locally. Although one must always consider a site’s Terms of Use, having a saved copy of the video as a backup plan seems reasonable and within the bounds of Fair Use. That said, here is a brief overview of four tools that can provide peace of mind when planning instruction that includes streaming media.

TeacherTube Downloader

TeacherTube is download-friendly and “provides the ability to download videos to your computer for personal or classroom educational use only, provided you give a link back to TeacherTube in any presentation, website, or other form of media in which the downloaded video is included and give credit to the author of the video.” The free TeacherTube Downloader will save video in flv, mpeg, and avi formats; for a nominal upgrade fee users can download from additional video sites (YouTube, DailyMotion, BlipTV, Break, Google Video) with more saving options (mp4, mov, wmv).

YouTube Catcher

Of the many tools available for saving YouTube clips, YouTube Catcher is a simple and popular option. Using a straight-forward web interface (no installations necessary), users copy/paste the URL of the video and can save the complete clip as a flv file or choose to download only the audio track in mp3 format. If you do not have an application to view the flv video, you can install the Free FLV Player which also includes a free audio recorder option.

YouTube MP4 Downloader

A lesser known fact about YouTube is that many (but not all) of its videos are available in the higher quality mp4 format. These files can be downloaded with the addition of the Get YouTube bookmarklet from the Google Operating System Blog. To use this tool, save the following link as a bookmarklet by dragging it to your Links bar (Firefox) or right-clicking and adding it to your favorites (Internet Explorer):

Get YouTube Video

With the link installed and a YouTube video selected, click the “Get YouTube Video” bookmarklet and a Download as MP4 link will appear beneath the embed code information. Right-click and select “Save link as” to download the file:

Remember that not all videos are available in this format; if that is the case, you can use the YouTube Catcher or try my favorite tool, the Video DownloadHelper FireFox extension.

Video DownloadHelper

Of the many Firefox extensions available, Video DownloadHelper is among my absolute favorites. Once installed (complete instructions available here), the DownloadHelper icon will change color and animate when you are visiting a page where video can be saved in flv format.

Clicking the icon will also bring up a list of several dozen video sites that you can browse for content. Note that not all the sites may be appropriate for educational use.

Be Prepared

Regardless of which streaming sites and download tools you prefer, it’s always good to be prepared. Having a local copy of that “must see” clip can save the day when network issues or server errors arise. Give one or more of the aforementioned options a try, and if you have a favorite tool, let us know; the more options the better!

Tech Tips from the Classroom: ZoomIt

pwoessner — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:01:22 +0000

Teaching a course to seventh graders and adults has reminded me of a painful fact of life; my middle-aged eyes (and those of many of my peers) just aren’t what they used to be. Even with a projector and large screen, from the back of the classroom my computer display looks pretty small. After wincing my way through several classes last week, I finally remembered ZoomIt; a handy little screen zoom and annotation tool.

Created by Mark Russinovich, ZoomIt enables users to zoom in on an area of the screen, move around while zoomed, and draw on the zoomed image. The program is very simple to use and includes a number of options, including different pen and text colors, drawing tools, and hotkey customization:

Even if you don’t have need for magnification, the ability to annotate the screen can make presentations more effective and help keep students engaged. As such, I highly recommend giving ZoomIt a try; it’s free, easy, and works with all version of Windows.

Tech Tips from the Classroom: Manage Your Schedule

pwoessner — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:34:35 +0000

One of the great benefits of working with students and teachers is that I am constantly learning new and better ways to utilize technology. Rarely a day goes by when I don’t pick up at least one nugget of wisdom, and these practical tips/techniques really deserved to be shared with a wider audience. That said, I’m beginning what will hopefully become a regular (i.e. weekly) series of short posts that highlight one or two of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned from my students and colleagues. To start things off, I’m going to feature a simple yet clever way of managing our six day rotating schedule courtesy of science teacher Rachel Tourais and few 7th grade boys I met during Orientation.

Move Your Background Out of the Background

For many, the desktop background is a place to show off favorite pictures of friends, family, and entertainment idols. However, it can also be the perfect location for displaying one’s class schedule. Using a simple Excel template (kudos to Rachel) and the Snipping Tool (or other screen capture application), creating a custom background takes less than 10 minutes…and can save hours of time as we constantly try to figure out when and where we’re teaching.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

To begin, download Rachel’s Excel Template and fill in your teaching schedule.
Save your schedule and then open the Tablet’s Snipping Tool from the Microsoft Experience Pack for Tablet PC.
Capture and save your schedule as an image (.jpg) file.
On the desktop, right-click and select Properties.
Choose the Desktop tab, then Browse for the image file of your schedule that you just created.
Once your schedule is selected, under the Position drop-down menu choose Centered.
After you click OK, your schedule should now appear on the center of your desktop.

If you’ve never worked with Excel, the Snipping Tool, or changed your desktop background before don’t worry; just let me know if you need a hand. Even better, see if one of your students can show you. After all, they were the ones who came up with this handy little tip!