Using Google Street View as an Inspiration for Art

I'm always fascinated by the creative ways in which people apply technology.  Recently, I came upon a CBC article on The Virtual Paintout, a blog which challenges artists from around the world to visit a particular geographic location in Google Street View and then re-create a scene from that location and submit it to the blog.  The rules of the challenge are very specific; the scene must be found on Google Street View.

The current challenge is to paint a scene from Prince Edward Island.  Some of the results are quite remarkable.

This got me thinking that it would be quite possible, with very little effort, to implement a similar challenge in an Art classroom.  The teacher could set up a blog, issue the challenge, and post students' work as it is submitted.  In that way, family and friends could view the student work with very little concern about personal safety or privacy issues.  The teacher could allow visitors to comment, but monitor the comments but moderating them.

To expand the idea even further, the project/challenge could involve multiple classrooms from various schools, allowing students to share their work with other students and comment on one another's work.

I think too often when we consider incorporating technology into the Art classroom, we get stuck on the idea of technology as the medium of creation.  We can expand the possibilities considerably by instead seeing it as the medium of distribution.

Googlelookup Function Does Amazing Things in Google Spreadsheets

Discovering this one was one of those "Holy Cow!" moments for me.  You can insert your own exclamation once you try it out.

Normally we think of spreadsheets as tools for performing mathematical calculations and logical operations.  Certainly this is the original realm of spreadsheets, but over the years they have expanded into much more powerful - and versatile - tools.  Google has taken that expansion one step further with the Googlelookup() function.

The basic format of the function is googlelookup("entity","attribute")

So, if you were to type into a cell =googlelookup("Marlon Brando","Birthday") the cell would return 3 April 1924.

Better yet, you could type Marlon Brando in cell A3 and then create the formula =googlelookup(A3,"Birthday) and get the same result.  That would allow you to copy the formula down column B.  Now, if you typed Sarah Palin in A4, B4 would return 11 February 1964.  If you typed Jimmy Smits in cell B5, C5 would return 9 July 1955.

Here is just a smattering of the types of things you can look up with Googlelookup:

• Ages of famous people
• Heads of state of countries
• GDP of countries
• Population of countries
• Atomic numbers and weights of elements
• Statistics of famous athletes
• Details of dinosaurs (weight, size, ...)
• Statistics of planets and other heavenly bodies

The classroom applications of this are really limited only by the imagination.

The Last Post

Alas, the title proves that you can take the English teacher out of the classroom, but you can't excise his penchant for bad puns and double entendres.

This is not a lament.  And, it is certainly not a complaint.  It is, however, the last official post to the Tech Tips blog.  Today will the last day for the Elearning team.  If or when an Elearning department re-emerges, it will no doubt take a very different form than it has had over the past four years.

Google Docs Now Provides Free PDF Conversion

Just last week, I had a request from someone who wanted to convert and existing PDF to an MS Word file so that students could complete the forms that the document contained on the computer rather than with pen  and paper.

As luck would have it, Google just announced today that users will now have the choice to fully convert PDFs to Google Docs when they upload them.  Furthermore, they have added the ability to perform Optical Character Recognition on a PDF which began as a scanned document.  This is a huge announcement.

Tying Up Loose Ends and Putting Things on the Shelf

As most of you are probably aware, at the end of this school year the Elearning department - at least in the form it has taken until now - will cease to exist.  Therefore, I thought I would spend some time ensuring that those who have made use of some of our work in the past can continue to do so in the coming year.

Using Audacity and Photostory in the French Classroom

Qu'est-ce que c'est L'audacity?  L'audace?

I probably should open by saying, "Pardon my French."

I recently did some work with a grade nine French class in Audacity, an open-source sound editing software package.  The teacher had given the students a topic on which they were to create a short French dialogue/skit.  The skit involved incorporating sound effects, so they also listed these in their scripts.  My involvement began after the scripts were already complete.

Get Your Morning Dose of Java (Math Applets)

In response to my previous post regarding Igeom, the interactive Geometry applet, John Cazakoff of Shaunavon High School directed me to  mathopenref.com, a site which hosts a number of online interactive applets covering many common geometry concepts.  The site is an excellent supplement to the regular math classroom.  Its strength lies in its activities for plane geometry, but it does have some resources for cartesion/coordinate geometry and solid/3D geometry as well.

Each of the applets at mathopenref.com tackles a specific concept and is accompanied by an explanation of the concept illustrated.  In this way, it differs from Igeom, which is more of an open-ended erector set that allows teachers and/or students to create their own interactive systems.

Thanks, John, for bringing this resource to my attention.

Bill C-32 - Why You Should Care

Yesterday the Federal Government introduced Bill C-32, an attempt to re-write copyright legislation to acknowledge and deal with the age of digital content.  Why should you care?  Well, as a consumer - but more specifically as an educator - C-32 has some significant ramifications for everyday life.

Using Google Forms to Track Student Behaviour

I've blogged in the past about using Google Forms and Google Docs to create online forms which feed data to a spreadsheet, where it can be compiled, analyzed, and graphed.

Recently, I've done some work with a school to create an online student behaviour tracking form.   I think this is an excellent example of tapping the power of Google Docs for a very practical educational purpose.

 Here is how the system works:

Alberta School Opens the Door to Ipod and Smartphone Use

This morning CBC is reporting on an Edmonton area school which plans to experiment in the fall with allowing students to use Iphones and Ipod touches to access the Internet.  Students will be expected to disable the actual phone and texting capabilities of their Iphones and connect via the school's wireless network.  And the school plans to block certain web sites to rein in some types of connectivity.

I will be curious to see how this experiment pans out.  I have to confess that I'm somewhat ambivalent to the enterprise as it's being proposed.

Shedding the MS Shackles with Open Office

As the end of the year draws near, I've decided to look back through the Tech Tips Blog posts to see if I left any glaring omissions that ought to be addressed before I draw the curtain on this enterprise.  And I found a big one. I realized that in all my previous posts I have made almost no mention of Open Office.

Open Office is a full-fledged office suite of applications which rivals Microsoft Office in its capabilities.  Furthermore Open Office is entirely open source, which means that it's free to download, use, and re-distribute. Open Office is a great alternative for those who don't want to fork over several hundred dollars on MS Office.  It's also a great choice for students going off to university.  When you consider that students can purchase a capable netbook or small laptop computer for $300 to $550, it's hard to justify having to spend $150 more on MicrosoftOffice, Home and Student.

Using Igeom to Examine Angle Relationships

I had a recent request from a grade nine math teacher who was wondering if I could suggest interactive geometry software to support the unit on circle geometry. (Unit 8 in the Pearson Math Makes Sense text).  A quick perusal of resources turned up Igeom, a free Java applet created in Brazil and available for download on the Internet.  Igeom is relatively easy to use after a bit of instruction, and it's extremely portable.  A teacher can put the applet on a network share (such as handouts) for students to access, or it's small enough that students can copy it to their home folders and run it from there.

More Photo Fun

Back in December I drew attention to bighugelabs.com, a website that allows the user to take a photo of herself and place it within a relatively professional-looking context: a magazine cover, CD cover, Andy Warhol pop-art poster, motivational poster and more.

This week my colleague Rob Geiger has passed on a few more web sites which perform similar magic.  Each has its own strengths - and weaknesses. Here's a run-down.

Capturing Streaming Audio in Audacity

One of the most rewarding things about working as an Elearning Catalyst Teacher is learning new technologies and new ways of using old technologies.  I'm sure some folks just assume we were born with the background required for the job, but in actual fact, we're frauds; most of the ideas we bring to the table we've learned from the teachers and students we work with.  So, credit for this Tech Tip goes to the students of Vanguard School, who showed it to my colleague Rob Geiger, who then passed it on to the rest of us.

Frequently, when students are creating a PowerPoint or other multimedia presentation, they want to accompany it with music.  All too often when we ask them if they have the song they want to use on hand, the answer is, "Yeah, right here on Youtube."  In the past, members of Elearning have advised students that incorporating streaming audio from the Internet into a PowerPoint presentation is simply too difficult to bother with.  This tech tip changes that.

Facebook Privacy - Revisited

Further to our previous posts on Facebook privacy, I recently encountered two web sites which allow users to automatically scan their Facebook privacy settings and correct those settings that present privacy risks.

• Reclaimprivacy.org provides scripts which examine a user's Facebook privacy settings.  To do this, the user creates a bookmark/favorite for the script link, then logs into Facebook and visits his/her privacy settings.  Clicking on the script bookmark then runs the scripts, which report any issues.  Users can then choose whether or not to correct the identified "problems."
• Saveface, a service from the folks at Untangle (the site-blocking software that you have no doubt had the occasion to swear at when it prevents you from visiting a web site at school) provides much the same service as reclaimprivacy.org.  Unfortunately, Saveface takes a no-holds-barred, heavy-handed approach similar to its parent (Untangle).  The scripts provide no opportunity for user intervention or input; they simply change all settings to "Friends Only." In my case, I had travel photos which were in no way of a personal nature; therefore, I had set these albums to "Everyone."  Saveface self-righteously assumed it knew better and changed these settings without asking for confirmation.

In short, I would recommend reclaimprivacy.org for folks who find navigating the labyrinth of Facebook privacy settings a bit intimidating.  

Saveface may have a place for parents to set their child's privacy settings quickly and easily; however, I think there is merit in going through privacy settings with your child so that he/she can gain an appreciation for what's involved.  For most users, I wouldn't recommend it.

Protecting Your Gmail Account

As cloud computing grows in popularity and we do more work with internet-based applications (such as Gmail and Google docs), the need for good security practices increases. Google’s suite of applications is just one of those incredibly useful sets of tools that makes cloud computing so attractive. Because all of Google’s applications are accessed using the same username and password (your Gmail account), if someone gets access to your Gmail account, then they have access to all your Google-based information. The best way to protect your account it to understand how someone might get your account information.

Gmail Adds Drag & Drop Images

Not that long ago, Google added the ability to add in-line images to Gmail messages.  Before that, users could only attach images to messages.

Now Google has enhanced Gmail's handling of images by allowing users to drag and drop images directly into the compose window.  Users can simply drag an image directly from a folder window into their message.  One word of caution, though.  Images should be re-sized to dimensions appropriate for displaying within an email before adding them to the compose window.

Saving Face - How to Manage Facebook in Your Life - Part 3, Kids and Facebook

In Part 1 of this series of articles, we examined the potential privacy risks involved in the social world that is Facebook.  In Part 2, we looked at taking control of Facebook's privacy controls.  In this, the third and final installment, we will examine how we can help our children and students navigate the Facebook universe safely.

Saving Face - How to Manage Facebook in Your Life - Part 2, Taking Control

In a previous post, we examined some of the reasons users should be concerned about their privacy - or lack thereof  - on Facebook. In this post, we will look at how to take control of your Facebook account.

The tutorial below examines the many security, privacy, and notification settings within the Facebook interface.  If you would like to watch this video in a larger format, you can watch it on Youtube.

Create Your Own Book in Wikipedia

Wikipedia has just introduced a "Book Creator" function which allows users to compile any selection of Wikipedia pages into a single book, which can then either be downloaded as a PDF file or printed as a physical book.  The feature is remarkably easy to use; a quick video tutorial run-down can be found here.  While the video emphasizes a physical book as the final product, creating a PDF file is even easier.

Saving Face - How to Manage Facebook in Your Life - Part 1, The Issues

When it comes to Internet Safety, one of the topics parents ask about most is Facebook.  Facebook provides people with a means of staying connected with friends and family, but it also serves up some major challenges to maintaining one's privacy.

Now, before you dismiss the contents of this post as a "kid's issue," think again.  A great number of adults who frequent Facebook could benefit from some of the information and tips that follow.  This is the first in a series of posts in which I will examine issues related to Facebook and other social networking sites.  In this post, we'll examine some of the privacy issues related to Facebook in particular.

Get Your "Inspiration" Online

Many educators are familiar with the power of Inspiration as a tool for brainstorming, visualizing, and organizing ideas.  However, fewer people know that the folks at Inspiration have been at work bringing those same capabilities to the web.  Mywebspiration.com is an online service which allows users to create Inspiration webs and outlines directly within their web browser and save the files online.

Updating Documents on Your School Web Site without Breaking Links

This blog entry is specifically targeted at Chinook administrators, office managers, or any others who may be responsible for editing their school's web site.

This fall, you will want to update a number of documents on your web site - things like student handbooks, ...  The problem is that if you upload a new document, you will also need to change/update any links to that document on your school web pages.  The video tutorial below shows you how to update the document in a way that negates having to update links as well.  Because links connect to an ID number for a document, you can actually change the document title and the document name without breaking any hyperlinks associated with it.

Here's how ...



OR, watch this video at youtube.com.

Portable Apps - Carry All Your Software in Your Pocket

In several posts in the past, I have mentioned portable versions of software.  Portable software titles are specially designed to be self-contained so that they can be run directly without any installation process.  This means that the user can place the program file/folder on any memory device (USB thumb drive, SD card, portable hard drive) connect that device to any Windows Machine and run the program, complete with saved preferences.  Portable software is usually limited to open source or other free packages, but this is not necessarily a huge limitation.

Portable Apps are the ideal solution for folks who may not be able to afford a laptop or may not want to be burdened by carrying one around.  The recent increases in storage capacity for USB thumb drives mean that you can easily carry all your applications and all your data on a $50 device smaller than a pack of gum.  Planning on travelling this summer?  Take along your Internet browser (complete with all your favourites/bookmarks), your email client (pre-configured), your photo editor, your music and a media player, even a copy of Skype to phone home with.  Then, to play it safe, transfer all your photos to your thumb drive so that you have backup copies should something happen to your camera.

Gmail Adds Drag-and-Drop Attachments

Good news for those who use Gmail.  Google recently added the ability to drag and drop attachments into the compose window within Gmail.  This is particularly useful for multiple attachments, which used to require browsing for each individual file to be attached.  Now a user can open a folder window, CTRL-click on as many files as he/she wants to attach, and drag them all to the area just above the editing portion of the Gmail message.

Google Docs Revamped, Drawing App Added

Many folks are aware of the benefits of Google Docs as a collaboration and sharing platform.  Recently Google announced a number of enhancements which make it an even more powerful tool for collaboration. You can catch up on the enhancements by reading my overview below, or you can view this video summary.



New additions include:

• Improved import of documents created in MS Word and other stand-alone word processors.
• Ruler, margins, tabs, and floating images in text documents
• A full-featured comment system for co-editing documents
• Improved "real-time" updating of co-editors changes
• The spreadsheet application now displays the formula bar by default and allows autofill and drag-and-drop column moving
• A new drawing application has been added to the suite.  While you're probably not going to use it to draw the blueprints for your new house, it is quite capable for charts, simple drawings, schematics and flowcharts
• In all applications, a collaboration sidebar now allows you to chat with co-editors while working on the document.

Using Photostory to Create Historical Documentaries

I have already extolled the virtues of Microsoft Photostory in a previous post, so I won't go into exhaustive detail about the program itself.  Instead, this post will focus on curricular applications for Photostory.

For those unfamiliar with the program, Photostory, available as a free download from Microsoft, allows users to create sophisticated photo slideshows quickly and easily.  Its interface is simple enough that even grade ones can master it, yet it provides enough depth for older students and adults.  For those interested in learning how to use Photostory, Elearning has created a number of video tutorials which walk the user through the process (click "log in as guest").

Fotosketcher Turns Photos into "Works of Art"

When I worked as Technology Coordinator for the legacy Gull Lake School Division, I always carried a Leatherman tool on my belt because I never knew when I might briefly need to enlist the services of a screwdriver, pliers or a knife.  It served me well, but I also always a carried full toolkit in my car for more extended work.  Sometimes you just need a real screwdriver.

The same is true with software.  While powerful do-it-all software suites have their place, there is no denying the value of a software tool that was designed to do one job and do it well.  That's the case with Fotosketcher, a free image altering tool designed specifically to convert regular digital photographs into images that look like they were drawn, sketched, or painted.

Internet Safety

Safety is a common component or unit in many health curricula.  While classroom discussions on this topic have traditionally included safety at home, at school, on the playground, and in the streets, increasingly it should also include safety in cyberspace.  Students need to be taught guidelines for remaining safe while interacting with others online.

There is no sense pretending that we can deal with the situation simply by limiting students' access to the Internet and other communication technologies; that horse left the barn some time ago.  Rather than deluding ourselves that we can keep our kids "retro-safe,"  we need to give them to tools to stay safe in an ever-evolving online world which is - and which will continue to be - an integral part of their lives.

Google Lit Trips

For those of us who have ever taught a piece of literature and struggled to provide students with the kind of background knowledge that will allow the piece to spring to life, Google Lit Trips is an impressive marriage of technology, geography, and culture.

Stop Motion Animation in Movie Maker

A number of Elearning Catalyst teachers have been working with various classes lately on stop-motion animation projects.  Stop-motion is a relatively simple project which can provide some variety within Arts Education or in any course which has story-telling as a component.  Within Arts Ed, students can also record their own a cappella "sound track" to accompany their animation, thereby incorporating another strand.  Because students will need to gain an understanding of the concept of frames/sec, the project will also incorporate some math concepts.

A Teaching Idea: Using Google Maps in SS 30

Google Maps is a rich resource for teaching Social Studies at a wide range of grade levels, but in this Tech Tip we are going to focus on Social Studies 30.  

PowerPoint Tips

PowerPoint is one of the most frequently used applications in education.  Its prevalence can be attributed to its balance of power and ease of use.  However, there are certain functions that regularly cause users grief, and, as Elearning Catalyst Teachers, we often find ourselves answering the same questions to address these frustrations.

This post will provide links to tutorial material which a addresses a handful of these common issues.  These are all video tutorials which walk the user through the process involved.  Some of these tutorials are located on the Chinook SD Student Moodle server.  When prompted for a login, simply click the "Login as Guest" button.

• How to create a entire picture slideshow (regardless of size) in 7 mouse clicks
• How to reduce the file size of a PowerPoint presentation
• Embedding a Youtube video in a PP presentation
• Converting Youtube video and inserting it into PowerPoint
• Combining multiple PowerPoint presentations without losing formatting

If you have your own questions or issues regarding PowerPoint, don't hesitate to contact your Elearning Catalyst Teacher.

Popular Science Archives Online for Free

Fans of Popular Science magazine may be intrigued to know that it has recently partnered with Google Books to provide a complete online archive of past issues for free.  The archive is searchable by keyword(s), although there is no advanced search feature.

Articles appear in full colour as they did in the original magazine, complete with all graphics, and with the user's search terms highlighted.  I would have preferred the choice of popping out an article into a new window to make it easier to read.  As it is, the article appears within the fixed-width framework of the page, so the user is faced with the choice of zooming in within the web page, which pushes some of the article out of view, or zooming in within her browser, which may not be an option for folks with lower resolution monitors.

Nevertheless, this is an interesting development which runs counter to a number of recent corporate decisions, including the New York Times choice to limit the number of articles that users can view for free before requiring a subscription.

Using a Toshiba Photocopier to Scan Documents to PDF Files

If you've ever wanted to send a print document quickly to someone at a distance, you may be interested to know that your school photocopier provides a solution.  Most Chinook schools now have Toshiba photocopiers, and most of these photocopiers have the ability to scan print documents to PDF files.

More on Password Security

A few weeks ago, I told a story of my brush with identity theft and posted some advice on online security.  Then, a few days ago, Marion Dueck at SCCHS brought this article to my attention.  It provides some interesting statistics on how easily certain kinds of passwords can be compromised.

For those who may not have the time or inclination to read the article (although doing so would be well worth your time) its primary conclusion is that we should re-think the idea of a password and instead consider using a pass-phrase.  Simply by adopting a combination of three uncommon words as our pass-phrase, we could increase the time it would take a determined hacker to breach an account to millions of years.  That would seem to be an adequate level of security.  ;-)

After my recent brush with phishing and identity theft I changed all my passwords, which was no small feat.  Now I'm tempted to go through all that pain again.  Sigh ...

Thanks a lot, Marion!

Generating PDF Documents - Followup

As a follow-up to my earlier post on generating PDF documents, my colleague Derek Murdoch at SCCHS brought another solution to my attention.  PDFmyURL.com specializes in creating a PDF document out of any web page.  Simply copy the URL (web address) of any page you are viewing and paste into the PDFmyURL.com web site.  It very quickly generates a PDF file and prompts the user to download the result.

My cursory experimentation with the site showed some odd formatting of headings, but the body text of the web page formatted quite nicely.  A utility like this is especially useful when dealing with dynamic web content that can change from day to day.  In these instances, sending someone the URL can prove futile because they will not see the same content you did when you visited the site.

Thanks, Derek, for that tip.

Using Internet Bandwidth Responsibly

As we rely more and more on the Internet for our communication, daily interactions and research, having a reliable, fast Internet connections in school becomes increasingly important.  At one time we might want to have reliable Internet access in our schools; today we need it.

It stands to reason, then, that if we rely on something so much, we should treat it well and use it responsibly.  We do this with our cars, our home heating systems, and anything else we deem essential in our lives.  And, when we share a resource with others who need it as well, it becomes doubly important that we treat it well so that we don't have a negative impact on those around us.

Unfortunately, this doesn't always happen with school Internet connections.

Creating and Managing Your Own PDFs With Free Software

Creating PDF's with Free Software

Anyone who has downloaded a document from the Internet is probably aware of the PDF document format, a format that was created by Adobe Software, which allows users to create documents that can be viewed on many different platforms.  The strength of the PDF format is that the reproduction will always look exactly like the original.

If I send a Word document or Excel spreadsheet to someone, I must assume that they have Word or Excel to view the file.  These are expensive programs, and not everyone has them.  Furthermore, if the document is to look like my original, the recipient must also have exactly the same fonts installed on his/her computer as I have on mine.

Collecting, Analyzing and Graphing Data with Google Forms

Over the past couple of weeks, I've had several inquiries about ways to conduct online surveys and collect online data.  In each case, I've pointed people towards Google Docs and its Google Forms feature.

Spellingcity.com Adds Custom Sentences

When I first reviewed and recommended spellingcity.com last, fall, I suggested that one of its shortcomings was that it didn't allow the teacher to create his/her own context sentences.  That has now changed.

Tiling Windows

Those of us old enough to remember Windows 2 and 3 have little reason to pine for the "Good Old Days" of MS Windows, but one feature that was readily available in those versions was the ability to tile windows.  With one or two mouse clicks, one could easily arrange all active windows within a neat grid on the screen.

Inkscape - Vector Graphics for the Masses

Vector graphic software is probably one of the most underutilized technologies in education.  For those who may be unfamiliar with the term, vector graphics are images that are defined or created by lines, curves, polygons and fills rather than with individual dots the way bitmap graphics are defined.  The digital images produced by your camera or scanner are bitmap graphics; the images produced by CAD (Computer-Assisted-Drafting) software and other drawing programs (Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, Blender) are vector graphics.

Olympic Resources - wikispaces.com

Once every two years, as either the Summer or the Winter Olympics approaches, teachers usually try to incorporate the event into their classroom activities.  My colleague Rob Geiger passed on this site on wikispaces.com which provides teachers with links and activities related to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

While it's not definitive, it should serve as a good starting point for teachers.  Examine the menu on the right side bar to navigate the site.

Google Docs Allows Uploading and Sharing of All File Types

Many of you are probably already aware of the power of Google Docs, which provides the ability to create, share and collaborate on text files, spreadsheets, and presentations, all online.  Collaboration is probably Google Docs strongest suit, but up to now users were limited to storing and sharing files in Google Docs native formats or as PDFs, which were not editable.

Today Google announced that they will soon be expanding the Google Docs service to allow uploads of all file types, subject to a 250MB/file size limit.  Storage space for non-Google Doc files will be 1GB, making it comparable to the average USB thumb drive that many of us would otherwise carry.

The service expansion will be rolled out over the next few weeks.  If you are a Google Docs user, you can expect to see a notification within your Docs page some time in the near future.

One of the great features of this service expansion is that users will now be able to share many different types of files (Word, Excel, graphics, ...) with others, either as individual files or through shared folders.  While this isn't as powerful as the real-time collaboration of Google Docs themselves, it still has some interesting possibilities for teachers, administrators, and students.

Useful Gmail Labs Features

Most people who use Gmail find its interface improves their workflow over other email solutions.  But the folks at Google are constantly fiddling with Gmail to add improvements and customizations that might make the interface work even better for the user.  Many of these add-ons are experimental, so they are tucked away in the Gmail Labs section of Gmail.  You can access Gmail Labs by logging on to Gmail and choosing Settings > Labs. Once you have installed any Labs feature, you can access Gmail Labs by clicking on this icon () which will appear in the upper, right-hand corner of your Gmail window (to the left of "Settings.")

I asked my Elearning  colleagues to share some of the Labs features that they have found useful and compiled that with my own list.  Here are the results.  It's quite an extensive list, so we've placed asterisks beside the ones we believe are most indispensable.

Why Gmail?

In the few weeks that I have been running these tech tips, you have probably noticed quite a number of references to Gmail and other Google applications.  I suppose it's time that I explained why Gmail appeals to me and why I frequently recommend it to others.

What is RSS and What Good is It to Me?

A few years back I made a ritual of watching the nightly national news on TV to stay abreast of what was going on in the world.  Somewhere along the way, though, that habit gave way to watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report to get my daily dose of political, social, and media satire instead.

I still stay in touch with local and world happenings, but now I do it online, usually in conjunction with my morning coffee.  The technology that is largely responsible for allowing me to swap the evening news for Stewart and Colbert is RSS.

Forwarding Chinook Mail to Gmail - Revisited

Just one follow-up to our previous instruction on mail forwarding.  There is a potential disaster lurking here if you ever encounter a snag with your Gmail password.  Asking Gmail to send you your forgotten or mistyped password will fire that email off to your secondary email address.  If that's one of the addresses you've now configured to forward to Gmail, the email will immediately be shipped on to Gmail, which you can't access because you forgot your password, thus creating a futility loop.

There are a couple of possible solutions to this:

• Maintain an address which is not forwarded to Gmail and configure this as  your secondary email within Gmail.
• Always remember how to turn off forwarding in your secondary account and do this before you request your password from Gmail.

Just a thought.  I didn't want anyone blasting me because they locked themselves out of all their email accounts.

Citations - Revisited

In the last Tech Tips, I drew attention to easybib.com, a site that greatly simplifies creating MLA Works Cited pages.  Thanks to Marion Dueck for drawing my attention to another cite that provides a similar service, but with much greater flexibility. citationmachine.net allows the user to create citations in a number of formats (MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian).  It also includes a built-in ISBN lookup feature that streamlines the process even further.  Those two features give it a leg up on easybib.com, in my opinion.

Thanks again, Marion.

The MS Word Equation Editor

Whenever I have the opportunity to talk with Math or Science teachers, I always like to make sure that they are aware of some of the tools that can make their lives easier.  One of the most powerful tools that every teacher in the Division has access to is the Microsoft Word Equation Editor.  The Equation Editor allows the user to craft complex mathematical and symbolic expressions that would otherwise send them running for pen and paper.

The tutorial below will walk you through the basics of invoking and using the Equation Editor. Or you can view a higher definition version directly on Youtube.

Forwarding Your Chinook Mail to Your Gmail Account

Quite a number of Chinook employees consolidate their mail accounts within Gmail to take advantages of the many advantages that Gmail offers over other web-mail services and local-software email clients. If you are one of these, you may be interested in this tech tip.

Sometimes "Personal Security" isn't all it's cracked up to be

Sometimes Christmas brings unwanted visitors.  (And no, I'm not just talking about your obnoxious uncle.)

After a week's hiatus from work, my wife returned yesterday to find that, in her absence, her office computer had been infected by a particularly pernicious piece of malware called "Personal Security," which disguises itself as a virus protection package, but which is, in fact, anything but.  This little piece of software guano had crippled her computer so badly that she was unable to run any programs.

In conversations with her co-workers, she discovered that two of them had similar experiences on their home computers over Christmas, sort of the technological equivalent of finding a lump of coal in your stocking.

This made me think that there are probably others out there with similar experiences.  If you are among them, you may be interested in a solution.  Here is one method for scouring your computer of "Personal Security."