Alyssa's Blog

Configuring Word 07 with my blog

2009-09-24T10:58:00.001-04:00

Just testing it out

ITSCO Student Video Challenge

2009-04-16T08:58:00.002-04:00

How’d They Do That?
sponsored by MidState Educators Credit Union

Video is a powerful educational tool and when you put a camera in the hands of students, learning grows exponentially. Video production provides students with the opportunity to create their own learning and make sense of the curriculum they face. Also spectacular is the potential for peer-to-peer learning. Who would your students rather listen to: an adult or someone their own age? A peer, of course! Take a student created video, put it in a mobile format, and imagine where it might land. Suddenly students are sharing their videos on cell phones, mobile audio/video players, through email, and online. Learning has moved outside of the classroom and into the students’ informal environment! Imagine…kids teaching kids!

ITSCO wants to foster this kind of creative learning environment and we are happy to announce our first Student Video Challenge. The rules are simple:

make a video
keep the length under 2 minutes
address the topic “How’d They Do That”

Use cell phones, camcorders, cameras, pictures, drawings or whatever media inspires you. Follow our online directions for uploading the video to TeacherTube.com (we’ll help you if you run into trouble) and submit a registration form to ITSCO.

Need Ideas? These should get you started. Give us a call if you want to brainstorm!

Inform people how to file a request for public information using the Ohio freedom of information statute.
Use Google SketchUp or similar modeling software to solve real-world problems involving area, surface area, volume and density.
Do you have a creative way of showing how solar panels work?
Have you ever thought of a way to describe when to use who vs. whom?

Competition Eligibility and Submission Requirements:

Competition is open to students in grades 6-8 and 9-12 who are enrolled during the 2008-2009 school year and in ITSCO member school districts.
All participants must follow your districts Acceptable Use Policy when posting student work, photos, and/or names on the Internet. ITSCO will not use any student names online or in print, but rather refer to each submission by title, teacher, school, and district.
Each classroom is limited to one entry. If there are multiple videos created in one class, it is up to the teacher to determine which video will be entered.
Projects may be the work of a single student or a group of up to four students.
All video projects must be completed by students with minimal help from a teacher or parent.
Each entry must be uploaded to www.teachertube.com and tagged with the keyword "2009ITSCO68" for those entering the grade 6-8 catagory or the keyword "2009itsco912" for those entering the grade 9-12 catagory. A short tutorial walking you through uploading to TeacherTube is also available.
TeacherTube accepts video files in the WMV, .AVI, .MOV, .MPG, .MP4 and .FLV file formats.
Download a separate Registration Form (Word document) and submit to ITSCO through email, mail, or fax.
Video projects must be 2 minutes or less. Any video longer than 2 minutes will be disqualified.
Winners will be determined by online vote beginning May 1, 2009, at www.itsco.org.
Entries must use copyright free material or submit proof of permission to use copyrighted material.

Dates and Deadlines:

All video projects must be uploaded to TeacherTube and Registration Forms submitted by April 24, 2009. Online voting will begin May 1st and continue until May 8th. Winners will be announced the week of May 11th.

Voting:

Please visit our ITSCO website for instructions and dates to vote on your favorite video.

Good Luck! Please email me if you have any questions ~ alyssa@itsco.org

A great resource for building your own instructional tutorials

2009-04-15T14:52:00.004-04:00

"The Talking Web"
Flowgram
Have you ever wanted or had the need to create a tutorial or informational video that has web page shots, pictures, documents, highlighted annotations, and a voice narrative? Plus, once finished, your video can be embedded in most websites, blogs, or wikis. Flowgram is a free, completely online tool for creating presentations, tutorials, and/or slideshows. Take a look at the great Web 2.0 example below courtesy of Flowgram.

Create your own iGoogle Theme and/or Gadget

2009-02-20T09:57:00.004-05:00

For all the iGoogle lovers out there, make sure to try the new feature of creating your own theme and gadget. The customized gadget is a great add to your students' classroom iGoogle tab. Just create your customized gadget and then share it with your students!

Great Opportunity for Educators!

2009-02-06T12:58:00.002-05:00

If your students are using or plan on using My Profolio please see the scholarship below for the 2009 NECC (National Educational Computing Conference)in Washington, D.C.

How to remove the Navbar on your Blog

2009-02-05T09:39:00.004-05:00

I am very happy to say that I have received numerous emails in regards to my Google Apps presentation at the 2009 eTech Ohio Educational Tech. Conf. (see Google Pres. below the video) I've had quite a few email me about disabling the NavBar. Below is a great YouTube video that will walk you through how to disable the NavBar Search. Not that we don't love this feature, but from experience, I know this discourages plenty of teachers and educators from creating classroom blogs. I also included below the written instructions for those of us that aren't visual learners :)
*note, once you disable the bar you will need to go to www.blogger.com to sign into your dashboard for editing. *
Please comment back if you have ANY questions. Have fun!

1. Open your Blogger dashboard.
2. Go to your blog’s Layout settings > Edit HTML
3. Look for:
/* Variable definitions
====================
4. And above that add:
#navbar-iframe { display: none !important; }
5. Make sure to save your settings and open your blog now. The navigation bar will be gone.
6. To show that this works, take a look at the top of my blog, no search bar :)

Photoshop Elements

2009-02-03T13:50:00.002-05:00

Once again posting from the 2009 eTech Educational Technology Conference. I'm just getting ready to present Fun Effects with Adobe Photoshop Elements in the BYOT C Lab. For all the conference attendees reading this, please stop by and learn how to digitally edit your favorite photos! I hope to see you there!

Hello eTech Conference Participants!

2009-02-02T09:41:00.003-05:00

Hopefully you are reading this post from the 2009 eTech Ohio Educational Technology Conference! If you are not, please make sure to check out my wiki site for my conference presentations and materials. If you are one of the lucky ones to be at the conference, please feel free to leave a comment on this post letting me know what you thought of my presentation(s)!

Adding widgets, avatars, gadgets, etc...to your blog

2008-06-18T14:11:00.001-04:00

The first step is to open up an internet window with your blog open and you signed in. You need to be in the Layout tab. Second step, open another window where you want to or have already found your tool that you want to add. For example, the TeacherTube video that you want to add should be open in this window. Next, scroll down the page to the bottom right to select and copy the "embedded" code.Now you're going to go back to the internet page that has your blog layout open. Click on new page element, then html/javascript.A new window will appear. Paste the code you copied in the large box labeled content. If you would like to add a title you may. Once finished, click save at the bottom of the box. Now click view blog at the top of your page to see your new video or widget! Yaahhhhh! Nice job! Add a comment below or email me if you have any further questions alyssa@itsco.org

Madison Plains

2008-05-19T10:26:00.003-04:00

Well I am back in the office after spending a great week teaching SmartBoards at Madison Plains. An excellent group of teachers and staff! Also a wonderful school district that has put their energy into updating their technology resources. They have worked very hard to achieve grants to buy their SmartBoards and succeeded very nicely. Now with me, I am working on updating my wiki site with the SmartBoards tools and tutorials that I used at the workshop. Make sure to check it out! www.alyssabaker.pbwiki.com

Creating a Blogger Tutorial

2008-04-22T13:36:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow I am teaching a one hour Webinar on Blogs. I'm currently working on making a small Blogger picture tutorial in Acrobat. This is part of the reason for this post, so I can capture to screen in order to demonstrate how to create a new post! Feel free to comment below if you would like some questions answered about blogs...

I went to Jackson...

2008-04-18T11:30:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I made the scenic drive down to Jackson. Not a cloud in the sky, I had my music playing, and the sky window on my car open! Life is good!
Steve and the teachers in Jackson were wonderful: it was a great Google Apps. workshop. I want to send out a thanks to Steve for all of his help. It was nice to have his input and assistance yesterday. Thank you Jackson for a great day!

Fun with Web 2.0

2008-04-15T09:55:00.003-04:00

Well I just finished adding a Voki of myself to my wiki site. Check it out: Alyssa Baker's wiki. The Voki website is very easy to use, it pretty much walks you through how to build your own Voki. If you want to make your own Voki go to Voki website.

OCTA Ohio Career and Technology Administrators

2008-04-11T11:56:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I spent the day at the OCTA Conference. I presented Podcasting to three different round tables. I was very impressed with the administrators and their desire to learn new technology! There were so many great questions asked during my round table presentation. It was definitely an enjoyable day. Hopefully I sparked some interest and enthusiasm with podcasting! :)

Back in Action!

2008-04-08T10:15:00.002-04:00

Well Spring Break at our member schools has ended and we are back to work with our Spring/Summer workshops. I'm excited about our new offerings! Plus, in June, Rachel and I are teaching the Summer Academies at the three different locations! Great things are happening!

Amanda Clearcreek

2008-03-20T11:33:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I taught Microsoft Office 2007 and Adobe Acrobat 5.0 at Amanda Clearcreek. I just want to say that the folks in Amanda are very friendly and a great group to work with! Also, wonderful facilities with GREAT technology! Thank you Amanda!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T09:14:00.002-04:00

Daryl Stout
Why should you never iron a 4-leaf clover? You don't want to press your luck.

Irish Saying
There are only two kinds of people in the world, The Irish and those who wish they were.

Busy at Work

2008-03-06T09:49:00.003-05:00

Well yesterday I built my first Wiki. I'm teaching a couple Web 2.0 classes in the near future and wanted to have a Wiki to present. My new Wiki can be viewed at www.alyssabaker.pbwiki.com. Check out my new Wiki and maybe build your own! Feel free to post any comments or questions on my blog. I'll be sure to respond! Wiki! Wiki!

Fun in Mount Vernon, OH with Digital Pen Pals!

2008-02-21T17:04:00.002-05:00

Rachel and I ventured up to Mount Vernon to have some fun presenting a workshop on Digital Pen Pals. Our participants were a load of fun. One of our activities was exploring blogging. We searched blogs ranging from baseball, card playing, rock bands, and many many more! We love Mount Vernon!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

2008-02-14T10:05:00.002-05:00

Back on the Home Front

2008-02-14T09:52:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was one of those crazy snowy winter days that remind you of the fact you should have just stayed in bed! I woke up to take my dog out only to slip and fall on sheets of ice. I then carried out all my work materials to start my car and realized that all my doors were completely frozen other than my trunk door! I then preceded to climb through the back and start my car. I then began my journey on the back roads of Buckeye Lake slipping and sliding. After nearly sliding off the road twice I decided I should just head back and work in the comfort of my own home. CRAZY!! But now I'm back at work and loving it! Cabin fever had definitely started to set in.

Winter Wonderland

2008-02-12T10:37:00.001-05:00

Who said Buckeye Lake is nothing but a small ugly puddle! It is beautiful out at the lake today. The lake is frozen with a thick layer of white snow. My dog Magnolia and I just took a freezing walk around parts of it. For some reason, no matter how cold it is, she loves being outside! For me, today is a great day to cuddle up on the couch, work on my laptop, and watch the snow fall...