The Ten Commandments of Computer Use at MMHS

It seems as though some students are having trouble remembering what the computer use rules are at MMHS, so we made a quick ten item summary of our Acceptable Use Policies and posted them below. Please read them and ask questions if you don't understand.

1. This is only a summary of the rules.  Use the golden rule of computer use. "Is it for educational purposes?" If no, don't do it. Check the school web site for the list of policies related to computer use if you have questions about anything.
2. 
   Respect others and yourself online. Don't engage in bullying or harassing behaviors. Use school appropriate language. Don’t use anyone else’s laptop, computer, or computer accounts.
3. Games- Unless specifically permitted for a specific learning objective by the classroom teacher, games are not permitted at school.
4. 
   Chat and Messaging- Chat and messaging programs are not permitted at school unless you receive a special exemption from the Principal or Technology Coordinator.  Save that for home.
5. Security- No hacking, tampering, or bypassing computer settings or security.  Keep your passwords to yourself.  Don’t touch anyone else’s laptop or use their accounts.
6. 
   Music/Headphones-  Unless working on a specific class or project, you are not to be listening to music and/or using headphones at school.  Save that for home.
7. 
   Illegal Activities-  You are not to use your school computer to illegally copy and/or distribute music, video, or other copyrighted material.
8. Streaming and File Sharing- You are not to be downloading or watching streaming material that has not instructional purpose for your classes.  Save that for home.
   
9. Appropriate Care- Treat your laptop with appropriate care at all times.  Don’t leave it on the floor.  Don’t walk with it out of the case.  Don’t drink around the laptop.  Don’t put heavy items on top of the laptop.  Don’t put the laptop in your book bag.
   
10. Educational Purposes-  Use your laptop for educational purposes and you’ll be “golden.”  That’s the primary reason you have it.  Remember that.  Non-educational uses should be saved for home.

Using Time Wisely- Part 3 Everything Else

http://msdtechdept.blogspot.com/

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

http://msdtechdept.blogspot.com/

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

http://msdtechdept.blogspot.com/

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!