Using Time Wisely- Part 3 Everything Else

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This is the third part of a three part series of blog entries designed to let students, teachers, and parents know how they can use some of their free time productively.  These sites can be used in conjunction with a class or as an independent exploration.

Wolfram Alpha 

Wolfram Alpha calls itself a computational knowledge engine.  It can be used to do modeling, calculations, simulations, and a whole bunch of other things that make it so much more valuable than a simple search engine.  You can enter math problems and get a solution.  Enter physics challenges and see models of the result.  It has a whole lot of uses.

Prezi

Prezi is a cloud based presentation program that has spectacular effects.  Think of PowerPoint on steroids!  It uses lots of visualization and effects to get the message across.  Students create presentations that have spinning effects which can captivate audiences.  

There are a large number of videos on how to use Prezi, as well as a whole bunch of pre-constructed templates to get you started.  Impress your teachers by showing a little pizzazz with your next presentation!

Animoto

The web site Animoto specializes in taking pictures, sound, and video and combining them in a dynamic package for presentations.  Like Prezi, it's a big step above PowerPoint.  While
Animoto only supplies 30 seconds of product for their free accounts, you could choose to get a premium account if you choose.

QuickTime Player Screencasts

Built in to your MacBook Air is a program called QuickTime Player that allows you to take a movie of your screen while you navigate your laptop and narrate the proceedings.  Students can use this function to demonstrate how to do a specific function.

eBooks

See the librarian to find out how to download ebooks.  The new student MacBook Air contains a program called Adobe Digital Editions for this purpose.  You could also download books to read from the Maine State Library.

How Stuff Works

This web site can be a very interesting way to explore the world around you.  Get answers to questions about how and why things work.

Using Time Wisely: Part 2- Tutorials and Virtual Learning

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In the second episode on this series, we're going to take a look at some ways students can use their laptops during time to improve their grades.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy was started by Salman Khan as a way he could help his cousin study math.  His cousin shared clips of these lessons with her friends.  It took off from there and is now teaching math, science, economics and finance, humanities, test prep and more.

Have students go to the Khan Academy site (www.khanacademy.org) and sign in using their school Google account.  Then they can either hit the knowledge map or you can assign them to classes.  As a "Coach" you can have parents or teachers helping to mentor the student and monitor their progress while they work independently.

Students can move up the achievement ladder by showing mastery of concepts.  This gives student positive reinforcement when they can demonstrate their understanding of the material.

The nice part about this is that students can view the material over and over again whenever they want to view something.  They can use it to reinforce what is being taught in class, or they can use it to supplant instruction.  They can also use it on their own, or with their parent/teacher "coach."  It is very versatile, and very popular.

TenMarks

A newcomer to the virtual tutoring field.  TenMarks provides math tutorials in a similar manner to Khan Academy, but this one is a for-profit company sponsored by Amazon.  Accessing the tutorials is free, but to get the assessments that test where stude
nts are at, you need to go with the paid edition.

Not only does TenMarks break down math by it's component subtopics, it also maps all of the videos and assignments with the Common Core State Standards.  If a student is having difficulty meeting a particular standard, it is a good resource for them to get the remedial help they would need.

IXL

IXL is a website that provides math and language arts reinforcement exercises for students.  Instruction is broken down by age level, and can also be further broken down by state standards.  This provides some more simplified instruction, but can be good for students who need extra practice working on specific topics.  Creating accounts on this site allows teachers to track student progress.

Using Time Wisely- Part 1: Learn to Code

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This is the first of a series of blog entries designed to let students, teachers, and parents know how they can use some of their free time productively.  These sites can be used in conjunction with a class or as an independent exploration.

Codeacademy  Like Khan Academy, Codeacademy allows students to work with online tutorials at their own pace.  In this case, students learn how to do computer programming starting from nothing.  With Codeacademy, students learn how to make web pages using HTML/CSS and PHP.  They also learn how to write some beginning JavaScript to perform functions.  Students eventually can create fun programs that will open the doors to more writing in the future.  In CodeAcademy, they track your progress through the lessons, and give you "badges" along the way to reward your progress.  No previous experience with programming is necessary. www.codeacademy.com

Scratch

Scratch is a visual based programming site developed by MIT to get students interested in the techniques of programming.  It uses a very visually engaging process to keep student interest.  Scratch allows the student to control various properties of an item on screen without knowing much about the technical language.

By stacking color coded tiles one on top of another, students are able to create program applets that perform a fun variety of different tasks.  Students can mix and match commands to reach the desired outcome.

This is actually a sort of programming environment because it teaches some logical thinking and problem solving needed when programming.
scratch.mit.edu

CodeSchool

CodeSchool teaches more advanced programming on topics like Ruby, JavaScript, HTML/CSS, and iOS App programming with Electives like GIT and DevTools.  Students begin by watching a video that walks you through some basic concepts.  You're then provided with a series of coding challenges based on the videos.  After each section gets completed, you can add achievements to your profile.  When the units get solved, you earn badges that are saved in your profile.

To get full access to all content, you need to pay a $29 per month fee, but there is a huge amount of content on the site for free.  www.codeschool.com

Alice

Alice is a drag and drop programming and scripting environment.  It is designed to be a very visual way of getting students involved with programming.  Works with Mac's or Windows machines.
Students can create their own scripts or presentations with this product.  Students need to go to http://www.alice.org for more info.

Programmr

With Programmr, students can sign in to work on coding quizzes and exercises.  This web site allows students to practice their skills in a very fun manner.  They can even add exercises to the web site to earn more "points."

This site seems to have a very wide array of topics and coding to choose from.  You can pick apart other people's code, take exams and quizzes, solve challenges, or submit your own work.  Caution:  Don't use this one just to play games at school!  Use it to learn how to write code.

www.programmr.com

Support coding and the Hour of Code project at your school.
See the video below!

Where Did My Google Stuff Go?

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Don't you love it when someone makes a change to something that you just aren't ready to see?  That happened to me yesterday.  Let me explain.

New Google Tool Item

Google recently made a change to the layout of their offerings.  Gone is the old menu bar listing Mail, Drive, Calendar, and all those other items.  It has been replaced by an icon that looks like this:

If you click on the new button, you will get to see a list of all the Google items you used to see in the menu.  From this window you can select Search, Mail, Drive, Calendar, Site, Groups, Contacts, and more items that used to be in the menu bar across the top of the screen.

Acceptable Use Policies and Procedures

Image courtesy of the Rocky Point School Department

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The Madawaska School Department has a variety of policies and procedures used in everyday activities dealing with the use of technology.  These policies and procedures combine to form the Acceptable Use Policies (AUP's) of the district.  A sample of our current policies and procedures can be found at http://www.madawaskaschools.org/district/tech/AcceptableUsePolicies.pdf

These pages give students and parents examples of what is and is not permitted when using technology here at school.  Using information technology for learning is the guiding principle behind these pages.  Please take a moment to read them and if there are questions, contact the Technology Coordinator for clarification.

Checkerboard DVD's and AirPlay

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Checkerboard Pattern when playing DVD's with Apple's DVD Player

Users who try playing DVD's on their classroom projectors using the AppleTV can sometimes see a checkerboard pattern.  This can be very frustrating.  Good thing there is a fix that works 99% of the time to get around this issue.

The trouble seems to come from Apple's default DVD application called DVD Player when it tries running through the Apple TV.  Using another program to play the DVD's gets around this issue.

VLC's interface

VLC

To fix this, we need to download a different application from playing the DVD's.  This new application is called VLC.  Teachers and students can install VLC from the Self Service application under the Utility category or download from the link above.  Once you start VLC with the DVD inserted, go to the File menu and select Open Disk.  That should take care of your issue, and the DVD should play properly.   For more information about this problem and the proposed fix, visit Dave Taylor's story on his blog at http://www.askdavetaylor.com/use_airplay_to_watch_dvds_on_my_appletv/

Problems Installing Apps on OSX

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Some students are reporting trouble trying to install certain applications.  Due to the settings required by the MLTI Project Office, applications not downloaded directly from the Apple store or digitally signed by Apple themselves are prohibited from installation by a feature called Gatekeeper.

This entry will show you how to get around most of these issues.

 If you are receiving one of the three messages you see on the left, you may want to try this trick.  Find the installer package.  It looks like a cardboard box with a yellow item inside it.  Hold the Control key down while clicking on the package, then select "Open."

This should allow you to install the package normally while bypassing the Gatekeeper functions.

Apple MLTI: Deployment Update 9  OS X Mavericks & Recovery Partition Yesterday Apple made a series of significant announcements. One of the most significant is the release of OS X Mavericks. Mavericks is available today, and for the first time ever this update to OS X is free. The Apple MLTI Project Office is working to complete testing of the upgrade and will provide additional information soon. In the interim, the immediate recommendation is to notupgrade. If you were to upgrade to Mavericks, the custom MLTI recovery partition will be replaced with a standard Mavericks recovery partition without the custom MLTI software. We will be providing additional information on this and any other updates soon. MacBook Air Updates We are currently tracking an issue with the MacBook Air where the device will sleep during usage. If you receive reports of machines suddenly going to sleep please update to 10.8.5. If the issue persists on 10.8.5 please call the MLTI help desk as we are looking to gather additional logging information. We are aware of an issue with MacBook Airs running 10.8.5 with third party applications accessing the FaceTime HD camer a. A software update has been released to address this. MLTI Repair Depot The MLTI Repair Depot is open and dispatches can now be created for MacBook Air 11”, MacBook Air 13", iPad Retina, and iPad mini units. Schools can access DepotWorks through the link in the Asset Manager or by going directly to http://www.belldepots.com. Your school’s user name and password are the same as they are for the current Asset Manager. MLTI Technical Users Group Meetings Please join us for a conversation focused on technical solutions for managing MLTI. Each month we will be hosting 2 meetings in different regions of Maine. Pre-registration for these meetings is not required. The meeting starts with a short presentation to kick off the conversation, but ANY topics related to MLTI are welcome. We will cover topics for both Primary (iOS) and Alternate (OS X) solutions. Bring your questions and cool solutions to share with others supporting this unique program. Each meeting will run from 9AM to 11AM. One of these machines is working hard. Nov 13, 2013 Ellsworth Elementary-Middle School 20 Forest Ave Ellsworth, ME 04605 Dec 4, 2013 Presque Isle High School Room 409A 16 Griffin Street Presque Isle, ME 04769 Dec 11, 2013 Piscataquis Community Secondary School 9 Campus Drive Guilford, ME 04443 Battery and Cleaning Information This generation of MLTI devices provides significant advances in battery technology. To maximize a battery’s life and longevity please follow the following best practices for both iPadsand MacBook Airs. Cleaning instructions have recently been updated to help keep your devices looking new. Sincerely, Maine Apple Project Team Apple Resources Asset Manager AppleCare Support Professional Development Apple in Education Your contacts AppleCare MLTI Help Desk: 800-919-2775 pin#4MLTI Apple MLTI Project Office: 207-688-4501 DOE MLTI Project Office: 207-624-6746 DOE Project Office email: MLTI.project@maine.gov