Kardash Rich Media

Sharing with Google Docs

2009-02-06T09:12:00.004-09:00

Carol B asked me to advice regarding sharing documents from Blackboard. Currently, when she shares the documents available on Blackboard, she clicks on the link in class to be sure that the students understand where to get the information. This results in the documents being downloaded to her desktop - however, she doesn't need them and has to delete them again after class.

Once all our students have accounts through Google, we can all use Google Docs to share documents via external links that will not result in unnecessary downloads; the students can download or print from Google Docs.

Here is an example below from the ED466 Blackboard site:

1. First log into Google Docs and upload the document.

2. After the upload, click on "Share" and then "Share with others" (see image below):

3. Send an invitation to yourself to gain the link to post on Blackboard.

4. Google will email you the link to use on Blackboad (see below)
5. Back on Blackboard, add an "External Link" for the document you'd like to share with students. From Google Docs, they will be able to view, print or download as needed.

Try out the link on Blackboard if you have access to ED466 (Go to "ED411 Work Continued...") - if you don't have access, email me and we can arrange temporary access for UAF faculty.

Cool trick with Blackboard Gradebook

2008-09-25T11:03:00.002-08:00

I love the color in the gradebook! Brilliant!

Back to School and Something New with Google Docs...

2008-09-02T11:14:00.004-08:00

This week, I invited my ED411 students to view a .pdf document that was quite large. Because of it's size, I decided to use Google Docs and when I used the students' @uaf.edu addresses to invite them to view the document, a new area of Google presented itself.

It seems that uaf.edu has a special Google place...did you know about this? https://www.google.com/a/uaf.edu How is this better than using regular Google?

Summer ED626 Literature Blog

2008-08-14T11:27:00.005-08:00

This summer, the ED626 (Teaching Reading and Writing) class for post-bacs worked with a blog to share the children's literature we read and shared in class. The students will also post their final 55-book presentation of all the children's literature they reviewed this summer. The blog worked well for this activity as now the students can come back here during the year when they are looking for literature to share with their elementary students. They can also just browse each other's presentations for enjoyment.

Check it out at http://ed626sum08.blogspot.com/

Startup Disk is Full????

2008-07-06T21:32:00.003-08:00

Do you remember that portable hard drive that Skip provided to us through the Rich Media money? Boy, I'm glad I had it today. As I was working, my computer presented me with this ominous message. What? My disk is full???
I pulled out the portable hard drive and starting moving files. I moved mostly picture and movie files and my disk space grew from less than 1 GB to over 7 GB...whew! I didn't lose anything...what would have happened if I ignored the problem??? (not that I would EVER ignore warning messages from my computer...)

Land Line or No Land Line?

2008-06-27T10:25:00.003-08:00

We think we are ready to drop the land line for our telephones....has anyone else made the change?

This green phone is one of my prized possessions...friends who moved away from Alaska passed it on to me....I love the retro dial and showing my kids what phones were like when I was little. I still remember what a big deal those new-fangled push button phones were when they came out and were more to "rent" from the phone company....Does anyone remember that we didn't buy phones, we rented the phones??? I was thrilled that it still worked when I received it! But now, this phone will finally be obsolete as a phone. This is the first thing from my childhood that is kaput...I am officially "old!"

Paying for the land line doesn't seem to make sense anymore. The one concern I have is when we leave our kiddos home alone...we're not ready to get cell phones for them as they aren't yet teenagers. We may get a third "house" cell phone for when the kiddos are home alone...we're moving into a new world.....

Web 2.0 means???

2008-05-31T10:45:00.005-08:00

Skip sent us the article above this week to review. Throughout the article, the authors referred to "Web 2.o applications." What was Web 1.0? How is it different from Web 2.0?

No more paper files....

2008-05-21T16:36:00.004-08:00

Last summer I planned to clean up my many files and better organize them. I didn't do it...

This last school year I meant to get around to that organization project. I didn't do it....

TODAY I did it. Realizing that I didn't look at any of these files even once, I really knew that I needed to clean them out. After going through over 75 file folders, I created a BIG trash bag and filebox with paper I don't need. I have either scanned the needed paper and added it to my computer, or it was material that was outdated. After it was "all said and done," I had ONE, yes only one, file folder's worth of things I need to scan or I need to keep. Isn't that amazing??? On Skip's advice, I do now back up my computer regularly so I really don't think I need all this paper anymore.

I also came across one of these...do you know what it is?? My tech-savvy 10-year old had no idea what it was.....Technology really does move quickly....The floppy disk is now like the 8-track tape of my generation...they were around when we were VERY young, but gone by time we were aware of things around us.

Hilarious!

2008-05-14T10:00:00.001-08:00

Undeployed: A link in a Blackboard content area is NOT like a shortcut on the desktop

2008-05-11T23:05:00.013-08:00

This is a sentence no instructor should ever find when they go to view the students' responses for a final exam:

Assessment attempt details are not available because the underlying content item has been undeployed.

"Undeployed" is a very bad word that should strike fear in the heart of every instructor who did not download the results of the exam before accidentally undeploying that exam.

Here's my story ~

This semester I tried to use computers to record my students' written exams. For the midterm, I checked out older Mac laptops from the OUP Lab. I didn't want the students to be able to cut-and-paste answers during the exam. By using computers that the students didn't own and that didn't have internet capability, I thwarted any cheating in that way.

We struggled for the first 30 minutes of our exam session because WORD would not open properly on any of the machines even though it appeared in the Applications folder. After several attempts, we tried AppleWorks for word processing and then were good to go....until I realized that my new "Rich Media" computer doesn't include AppleWorks. This wasn't too hard of a fix though - you can save AppleWorks documents in a WORD format so that's what students did. I used a USB mini-drive to save the exams as the students finished. All was well in the end.

For the final, I decided to try another way of administering the exam. Students could take the exam paper-pencil (which 5 out of 20 chose right away) OR students could take the exam via Blackboard. If they used their machines, they sat with their backs to me so that I could see the screens to monitor that only a web-browser was open AND only the Blackboard exam was viewed. For my exams, the students are given 7-8 questions of which they choose 5 to write essay responses. I embedded google docs slides so that they could choose a question:For only 1 student did the embedded slides not work - he suspected the web filter on his machine interfered so he changed to paper/pencil. Everyone else did great!

Now for the undeployment.

The Monday after the Thursday evening exam, I tried to make some changes to the course menu on the class Blackboard site. The content area in which the link to the exam wasn't showing up in the order I wanted. I tried to move it again and again through the control panel. I decided to just delete the content area and just recreate it again. I thought that since the Gradebook was linked to exam responses, the link in this particular content area wasn't THE link to the exam.

I was wrong...

That content area link was THE link to the exam. When I went to download the exam responses, this terrible response appeared:

Assessment attempt details are not available because the underlying content item has been undeployed.

Content area links are NOT like short-cuts on your desktop. Get rid of the link to a test - get rid of the test results. ARGH!

I sent a plea for help to the UAF support for Blackboard. Martin Miller replied promptly that they'd try to help. Here were his responses throughout the next THREE (yes, three!) days:
Day 1
Diane,
I am working on the problem. More news as it develops.
You may see my name (username msmiller-cadmin) as an instructor in the course as I am troubleshooting.
Cordially, Martin

(Sounds like it can be fixed...my heart is beating again...)

Dianne,
I am checking the backup schedule, and to find out exactly what was backed up.
I'll let you know what I find out.
Cordially, Martin

(I'm still hopeful - isn't it nice how he signs off with "cordially?")

Diane,
We are narrowing the possible data locations down, still no promises that it will work.
Can you tell me the date and time that you undeployed the exam?
Cordially, Martin

(Uh oh..."no promises" doesn't sound good...)

Diane,
We have opened a trouble ticket with Blackboard to make sure our intended approach to restoring your data will work, without unpleasant side effects.
Cordially, Martin

(Uh-oh....having to go to the national support team does NOT sound good....)

Day 2
Hi Diane,
I just got word that the recomendation is to restore the data backup from Sunday evening.
Cordially, Martin

(I am so glad that the university backs up their systems! Be sure to back up your systems!)

Hi Diane,
I spoke with the manager for Core Applications (the department that handles the Blackboard program)>He called the director of the folks who handle the database (Technical Services), who authorized the Database administrators to do the restore on a priority basis.
We should have more news for you in the morning.
Cordially, Martin

(Oooo, I am very hopeful now - maybe I'll wake up and the exam responses will be restored!)

Day 3
8:35am
Diane,
The extract ran overnight (and took all night).
The programmers are working on creating the area into which it can be restored.
I will let you know as soon as I have more news.
Cordially, Martin

(Overnight??? Yikes! I check in about every hour with Martin but he doesn't know a thing all morning...not good...)

2:00pm - A response from a NEW person (Jo Knox):
Diane,
After some fits and starts, we have managed to get a new database set up and the Sunday Blackboard backup restored into it. This database is currently hooked up to the machine http://classes-test.uaf.edu and you should be able to log on to that machine with your regular classes account and password (we think)! We're hoping that you'll be able to find your classes' final grades in there, if nothing else but to print out a copy! (I wouldn't try copying the course or anything, because it won't have any of the supporting files outside of the database!)
Please let us know how that goes!
jo

I go to the site listed above and find a "parallel universe" Blackboard:

And I also find the "Sunday backup" of my class site!

Eureka! I can download the exam responses!

Whew!

Now I wonder...

Do the tech folks hate me for all the work that went into finding my small piece of the Sunday night backup OR do they love me for giving them a fun challenge????

Either way, I am VERY appreciative of their work and told them so!

Moral of the story ~
Links in content areas on Blackboard ARE not like short-cuts on your desktop -

"Don't delete content areas with important links!"

AND

"Always back-up your computer!"

Loving Skitch....use in providing feedback to students...

2008-04-25T14:38:00.004-08:00

All my students submit their assignments electronically now - either through assignment links on Blackboard (preferred) or by email. This afternoon I needed to remind a student of content we covered in class in response to an incorrect response in her homework. Instead of typing out the answer, I was able to use Skitch to grab a shot of the relevant PowerPoint slide from the lecture and then copy that image into the student's workfile with my response. I love Skitch! It enabled me to show you this screen shot of the student paper with ease!

Firefox troubles - Safari Fixes

2008-04-18T16:31:00.003-08:00

I found difficulties posting the calendar in the previous post - Blogger gave me this error message:I immediately switched over to Safari and posted with no problems...do I need to upgrade Firefox?

Tentative Fall Calendar - Methods Courses

2008-04-18T16:24:00.005-08:00

Joan, Deb W, Tony and I need to get together to work on the calendar for the Fall methods classes . I created a calendar with Google Calendars to facilitate this - click through the calendar to Fall (Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec) to see my suggestions for scheduling my classes. I'm hoping that we will be able to have suggested dates by our Monday Elementary Faculty Meeting. I'm not sure how hard this calendar will be to work with for the other folks....I enabled them to add to the calendar with their uaf.edu email addresses but I think they may need to create a Google account. Will I then need to enable them again?

EUREKA! A PowerPoint movie with sound!

2008-04-15T16:57:00.009-08:00

I've been struggling a bit in the last few days to create a PowerPoint movie of an activity for ED410: Foundations in Literacy. The activity comes from one of our texts Becoming a Reader: A Development Approach to Reading Instruction. This activity, Context Clues, done with PowerPoint is one of the really meaningful examples of technology improving the delivery of the content. I plan to share how to do this activity with students at the FNSBSD/UAF mini-conference on technology in May.

My problems began when I ran out of time in class to discuss it on Monday night. I wanted to be sure the students had an example to see how the finished product turned out - but the finished product needs a presenter. I realized that if I turned it into a movie, the students could view it before trying to create one of their own.

I first tried to add narration to the Powerpoint through ProfCast but I lost all my animation.

I then discovered that I could add Narration within PowerPoint by going to Slide Show - Record Narration. I still lost my animation within one slide when the file converted to a movie file. (.mov) The activity can be done easily on multiple slides without using animation - so I changed the formatting, recorded narration again, and "voila!" I had a .mov file from the PowerPoint that students could possibly see via youtube.com.

Then my struggles began again....even though the PowerPoint is a .mov file, youtube.com told me that it could not deal with this file:My students were left looking at this on Blackboard:I planned to contact Skip to get help when I had an idea...what if I uploaded the PowerPoint movie to iTunes and then converted it for iPod/iPhone? That would give me a different format that might work with youtube.com. Look at this:

Not only did it work fantastically, the iTunes .m4v file is only 1.4mb and the PowerPoint movie file is over 18mb.

Eureka!!!!!!!

Using the Apple Remote....

2008-04-10T17:25:00.009-08:00

Is anyone using the Apple Remote??

Today I remembered this computer came with a remote, unwrapped it from the plastic cover, and tried to figure out a way to use it with PowerPoint. The program that utilizes the remote is call Front Row. When I pulled off the plastic and starting playing with the remote, I found myself on a screen similar to this one:
As you can see, PowerPoint is not an option...
I played around a bit with iPhoto - I saved my PowerPoint presentation as a JPEG and then imported the slides into iPhoto. I wasn't happy with the amount of control I had and wasn't interested in "playing around" for too long.

I knew someone else must have solved this problem already....
I found a neat, free program that allows me to run my PowerPoint presentations now from my remote.

iRed Lite
allows me to use my remote to change slides with PowerPoint. You can still use Front Row...this just gives you some added use of the remote. You can use it access other programs as well such as Preview, Quicktime and even your mouse. I haven't figured it all out yet, but I have the PowerPoint working....

I am now FREE to roam the classroom!!! Now I need to remember to wear clothes with pockets or figure out a way to attach the remote to my body because I WILL put it down and forget where it is!

Hmmm...browser issues.....

2008-04-08T12:01:00.008-08:00

With embedded Google Docs slide shows, funny things happen with Firefox when I go to edit....

If it's not one thing, it's another!

"What's the deal, Lucille?"

ARGH - Forgot to turn off the recording!

2008-04-07T21:39:00.003-08:00

Tonight, I forgot to turn off the recording button at the end of the off-campus class I lead tonight - I had a one on one conference with a student that COULD NOT be made available to the class at large. I didn't find out how to erase until AFTER I closed out the session so I had to delete the whole thing. ARGH! I learned tonight that you can re-record over parts of an Elluminate session as the moderator BUT the session still has to be open to do that.

Have I mentioned how much I'm relying on Skitch and Google Docs lately????

It became very important tonight that I put up the slides before I deleted the session since this will be the only way the students can review the evening.

Hmmm..Changes on the Wiki

2008-04-07T18:01:00.002-08:00

I stopped by the rich media wiki tonight and changed the address for my blog...the link stayed the same however - it goes to the wordpress.com blog instead of coming here....what extra step do I need to do other than just change the type?

Elluminate, Google Docs and Skitch - Indispensable now....

2008-04-07T11:44:00.009-08:00

Having learned about using Google Docs and Skitch with this group, I now find these indispensable in sharing information with my distance students, along with Elluminate.

Teaching the same course on-campus as well as off-campus enables me to ensure that all students, regardless of location, are given the same learning opportunities. It is challenging though to modify in-class activities that I do with the on-campus folks for the off-campus folks. I appreciate Elluminate so much. In the first slide show below, you can view the whiteboards from the March 31 session for off-campus that relates to the slides in the previous post displaying the work of the on-campus students (March 27). On campus, the student worked in small groups to lead writing activities - the photos are included in the March 27 slides in the previous post. With Elluminate, the off-campus students were enabled to do the same activity utilizing the whiteboards. (see slides 13-23 below)

I am currently taking an class (Alaska Reading for Adminstrators) through UAS delivered through Elluminate. Unfortunately, this instructor does little with Elluminate. The first few classes included visuals on the whiteboard....now, it's become really just an audio-conference class. The instructor is able to view who is online and, as students, we can give her some visual feedback with the "faces" and ability to "raise our hands". However, for visual learners like me....only audio is difficult for me to follow. This experience as a student encourages me to learn how to use "rich media" to help my off campus students participate fully.

My progression for my visuals for each class has been:
1. Create PowerPoint Presentation
2. Save it as JPEG
For On-campus -
3. Upload to Google Docs
4. Post as an item on Blackboard to share in class

For Off-Campus -
3. Upload to Elluminate for the class session.

After the on-campus class (or even during the class!), I modify the Google Docs version and that instantly updates the slides on Blackboard. For the off-campus folks, I can't modify as easily. After class, I use Skitch to take shots of the whiteboards we created in class and then add those shots to the original PowerPoint presentation. THEN, I can save that as JPEG, load them up to Google Docs and post the slides on Blackboard for the students to view later. Without Skitch, I don't think I would even attempt to do it.

This can be very time consuming. I'm wondering if I can cut out a step somewhere along the line to streamline my work....

Elluminate with On-Campus Class ~ Brilliant!

2008-04-07T10:40:00.003-08:00

For the last two weeks in my ED410 course (Foundations of Literacy), we have been talking about writing with students. The first week, I used Google Docs to post the pictures of the students teaching in class and a group shot of each group up on Blackboard for the students to reference. I included them in the session powerpoint so that students could review the highlighted discussion topics if they needed AND see themselves in action. I used Photobooth and the camera on my laptop to take the photos.(I wrote more about the slide show below on wordpress. You can click here to read about it.)

(Ahhh, look at that! You can see the slides now! Thank you, Blogger!)

Tonight, I also utlized Elluminate Live! in this on-campus class. I did a model lesson of the writing process with students and used Elluminate for them to participate. This worked out so well - it kept the students interested and active in the activity. Look particularly at these slides in the show below:

Slides 2, 3, 4: In these slides the students were brainstorming vocabulary. Instead of students having to wait for me to write up their ideas on the board, they could add them immediately.

Slides 6 through 23: These slides show the student work.

Each student created a crayon monster during the brainstorming session. They used tape to post them up on the white board at the front of the room. I added numbers to them for identification without names.

After we brainstormed the vocab looking at their drawings, each student went to a blank screen on Elluminate to write a Cinquain poem (the directions are on slide 5). They were to be "secretive" and not let out on which slide they were working. The class would be trying to match the poems with the drawings later.

After the poems were done, I took over Elluminate and read aloud each poem one by one. After each reading, the students would use their computers to put up the number of the drawing they thought matched the poem I just read. In the past, I have done this all orally - for the students to add numbers to the poems screens added another layer of interactivity and color.

After about 20 seconds of the class making guesses, the author came up and put the screen number, circled, on the drawing. The class then saw if their guesses were correct.

The interactivity of Elluminate really made this lesson go smoothly with excellent student participation.

The circled numbers also helped me match up the poems and the drawings after class. I used my laptop camera again to photograph each drawing. I used skitch to take a shot of the Elluminate poem screens. Then I put those two image together to make the slides you see here. Very cool! I like having this record - before everything went in the trash afterwards.

The last slides show some problems I had with students "goofing around." While I was talking, some student just couldn't resist adding their own "graffiti." I had to ask all the students to close their machines while I was talking to keep some on task. I could definitely imagine the same thing happening in a classroom of elementary students.

I know that elementary schools don't have access to Elluminate. Is there another way a class set of laptops could be connected to all be enabled to input onto a classroom screen or smartboard??

Moved from Wordpress....

2008-04-07T10:37:00.000-08:00

I've decided to move from kardashrichmedia.wordpress.com to kardashrichmedia.blogger.com because I am doing a great deal with embedded slide shows from Google Docs and wordpress.com doesn't seem to like them. Welcome to my new space!