M.A. Hochberg’s Technology for Teaching

If Firefox is your default web browser, you may have a problem with clip art that you download from the MS Office free online clip art. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx

The clip art downloads and looks like this:

When you click on it, it may try to open in Text Edit or fail to install in the Clip Art Gallery. Fortunately, there is a very simple fix. Add the extension to the file name. Change “ClipArt” to “ClipArt.cil”

Immediately, the icon changes.

Now when you double click on it,  it installs into your Office Clip Art gallery.

This problem doesn’t occur when you use Safari to download the Clip Art.

People understand better if they can both see and hear what they are to do. This is especially true in an elementary school. If the students can see what you want them to do, they can do it better than if you just explain it to them.

On a laptop , teacher accounts look very different from a student account. To make it easier for the students to see what they are to do, our teacher computers also have a student account on them.

Note: the student account is NOT for students to use. It is only for the teacher to be able to demonstrate using the same setup as the students have.

One drawback to this is that you must log off the teacher account, then log into the student account. This is both tedious and time consuming, especially if, as many teachers do, there are many open programs. The way around this is with “Fast User Switching.”

Fast User Switching allows you to have two or more accounts open at the same time. The only catch is that you can’t have the same program open on both accounts. For example, if you want to use Safari on the student account, it must be closed on the teacher account.

Setting up Fast User Switching only takes a few steps. After that, it’s simply, point, click and the student account opens up.

You will have to log back into the teacher account when you are done with the student account  but all your open programs will still be open and everything just as you left it.

Click on Fast User Switching to  download directions.

I’ve written about file names earlier (see below) but it has become more important to name a file simply and completely. Recently, two new reasons have popped up, one trivial, the other much more important, to include the file extension in the name.

The file extension are the characters after the period in a file name. For example,

MyBookReport.doc

or

MyCountryReport.pages

The extension helps identify which program will open the file.

Windows computers automatically add the file extension to any file name. Depending on the settings, Mac computers may or may not add the file name and may or may not show it.

Here’s the trivial problem. If a file does not have a file extension added, Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) does not display the icon or ‘quick view’ correctly. The file is identified correctly and it will open in the correct program.

Here’s the bigger problem—and it will become bigger next year as more staff and students begin using the files1 server to store their files. When a file is created without a file extension on a Mac and put on the files1 server, then reopened on the Mac, it loses the correct application.

For example, if a MS Word file is saved without a file extension on a Mac, copied to a files1 server, then the copy on the files1 server is reopened, it will reopen in Text Edit. Fortunately, if you add the correct extension, it opens without any problems

Since students save all their work on the server, they will see this more often. We can save a lot of bewilderment and frustration with a little preparation.

Start by setting Finder to show file extensions (Go to Finder, Preferences, Advanced, Show All File Extensions).

Next check the “file save” options for all your applications. The box labeled “Append File Extensions” should be checked.

Finally, teach students and staff what file extensions mean.

One final tip—only include one period in a file name. To see more about naming files, go to

http://blogs.4j.lane.edu/hochberg_m/2008/02/21/use-numbers-and-letters-only-when-naming-a-file-folder-drive-or-computer/

When using Communications Express for your email, be sure to empty the trash and clean out your inbox. If your mailbox gets too full, you won’t be able to get any email. There is an easy way to see how full your mailbox is.

1)    Check the Quota icon in the left corner of the screen. If the bar in the quota box below has turned red,
2)    Click on the trash folder to open it
3)    Click the “double check” box to select all the messages on that page.
4)    Click on the Actions box and select Expunge.

That will remove the messages from your Trash folder.
You can also set Communications Express to empty the trash when you log out. Click on the Options tab to change your settings.
Remember, you should be using Communication Express for your web mail, not Messenger Express.

Tired of explaining what the “world wide web” is? Or Twitter? Common Craft makes great, short (under 5 minute) videos showing these concepts. I especially like their “Wikis in Plain English” video.

Transcripts are also available so you can learn to do this yourself.

http://commoncraft.com/show

Two weeks ago, I taught the Cow herder groups about wires and cables. We took apart an Ethernet cable and they learned how electricity moves through the cable & how the different layers of the cable protect the metal inside.

Last week, they left a laptop power cord & a note on my desk.  They were concerned because there was exposed wire in several places on the cord.

On Thursday, we looked at the damaged cord and talked about how dangerous it was. As we were putting away the laptops from our class, the Cow Herders noticed exposed wire on a different type of power cord and showed them to me.

On Friday, I brought both types of power cords to the CIS technicians for evaluation. The cords are not safe to use. In particular, the MacBook adapter with multiple cuts is a severe hazard. Should the exposed wire touch the metal of the cart, it could cause a short and the entire body of the COW could be electrically charged.

The Cow herders took the knowledge they learned, applied it to the COWS around them and prevented a dangerous situation. I am proud of them.

With a new batch of MacBooks arriving, someone asked if they needed to get a new power cord or would their old one work. That led me to quite a search on the Apple site.

The short answer to their question is that if they are moving from the same model to the same model (MacBook to MacBook), it would work. But if they are moving from different models (MacBook to MacBookPro), they needed the power cord that came with the MacBookPro.

Even though the power adapters look alike, the MacBook adapters are different for each model—and there are many models. After wading through the details on the chart, it turns out MacBooks can use any 60 watt adapter, MacBookPros use 85 watt adapters, and MacBook Airs use 45 watt adapters.

Except for the label, the MacBook and MacBook Pro adapters look alike. The MacBook Air adapter is shaped differently.
Details are at

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2346#922-5463