Another excellent Edublogs.org weblog

Though this has been a difficult semester, we have finally arrived to the end of this course. In the process I think we have all learned much, enjoyed even more, worked very hard, and made life-long friends. Enjoy your Christmas break!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

1. Word 2007 has many useful extra features. One that may be extremely useful to those writing research papers and thesis is publishing your Word documents as a PDF. To be able to do this, first you need to download a free plugin from Word. You can find this at

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4D951911-3E7E-4AE6-B059-A2E79ED87041&displaylang=en

To be able to add the plugin, your Word copy should be genuine, since you have to go through a whole process of validation before you can use this feature. Once you validate it, all you have to do is open a Word document and save it as a PDF copy.

View

2. Another interesting feature is columns. You can find this feature under Page Layout. It allows you to choose how many columns you would need in a document and how wide you’d like to make each column. It can also be used within a document to give it visual variety.

3. In Word 2007, when you insert a picture within a text, the program allows you to position the picture in different places in the document. You’ll see that when your picture is highlighted or marked, the Picture Tools Format will open, under Position, you’ll find 9 different ways of placing the picture.

4. Using the Style and Themes Features

5. Templates
Under the Word logo, when you choose New document, you’ll see an extensive list of possible templates. Under Forms, for example, if you choose Academic, you’ll find forms such as Field Trip Permission Slips, Students Weekly Reports, among others. Under More Categories, you’ll find Quizzes and Tests templates. These are available for you to download as long as you have a genuine Microsoftword copy.

6. Another feature you should know how to use is Track Changes, you can find this under the Review tab. This allow you to correct your student’s documents.

7. Even more… Check out the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkJmB56GBfg

Last Saturday, Elizabeth guided us in the use of Movie Maker. She also taught us how to transfer a power point presentation to the Movie Maker platform. If you are using a power point presentation that you already created as your basis for the Movie Maker project, remember to add your voice to the presentation. This is one of the things I’d like you to do since many of you already know how to use Movie Maker, but don’t know how to synchronize sound and image. Anyway, on October 25 Elizabeth will be with us again, this time she’ll be showing us an easy way of doing e-portfolios, sharing a program that will allow us to average our students’ grades, among others.

The following readings are the last I will assign. The first refers to a study called “Keeping Pace”, which I have also included for your perusal.   We won’t meet on November 1, you’ll have this day to work on your own to finish all the previous work so that everyone can give their finishing touches to their blogs on November 8 before your presentations on the 15th.

1. Reports reveal online learning’s successes, needs

keepingpace07-color

2. Panelists: Online learning can help minority students

I have already recorded Marisol Ortiz, María Teresa, Lismar, and Nitza-they’ll be able to upload their videos to their blogs on Saturday. The rest can either bring their recording or come prepared on Saturday so that I can film you.

Here are the articles you should read for this week. Remember that Elizabeth is coming tomorrow. Bring the pictures you may need to develop your movie maker film. Also,remember I will be filming you so that next week we can podcast these videos. Plan what you’re going to say, it doesn’t need to be long.

On the way: Nation’s first tech-literacy exam

Six Education Technology Trends to Watch in 2007

Finally the blog seems to be working though it still seems a bit slow. This is the first time I’ve been able to connect this week. Even this morning it was impossible for me to connect. Anyway, last week I made a mistake and told you to bring your pictures for tomorrow, but they’re really for the 18th. Tomorrow I will be filming you, bring something short to say (without reading) that you can post to your blog. Here are your reading assignments:

Schools Grapple with teachers’ Facebook use

Study the following site about webquests, begin thinking about a possible webquest you could develop for your level.

What is a webquest?

To view webquest samples visit Webquest.org

1. I found these two videos in You Tube. The first is an explanation of how to create 3D animations. Notice that it’s a chid who is doing the explaining. Try to follow his explanation by applying what he’s explaining to your own pictures on power point. The second video partly explains how to use tables. It will help you to review as you prepare your own documents using tables.

howtom1

using-tables-in-word-2007

2. The following are your readings for this week

“Students Share Their Accompishments with “Brag Calls”

“Twittering, Not Frittering: Professional Development in 140 Characters”

3. Plan a 2 to 3 minute explanation of something that you’re doing for the class. Keep it simple. Next Saturday I will record you so that you can post your podcast in your blog. If doing this in class gets you nervous and you have a digital video camera at home, you can do it at home.