January 13, 2010

TTWF was another bust, but no one can say that I am not trying to reach the populace. I did get to teach eportfolios today to a group of seniors. I know there are various aspects to eportfolios, but this one dealt with the job concept. The questions were great, and I tailored it well to their situation as best as possible. One of the easiest ways to create a good eportfolio is to utilize a wiki. This gives an on line functionality to the portfolio. I also discussed with them some on line dangers such as Facebook, etc. Many students as well adults feel that the items they post are so secure--they are NOT, and it is difficult to convince them of that. I am still forging ahead on the web sites, and when they see the ease of it, their comfort zones are now expanded to include WYSIWYGs. I also had an interesting conversation with a power who wants me to work with the entrepreneurship challenge. I will attend a meeting next week to find out the particulars.................flick

December 15, 2009

I am still working with Movie Maker and having a blast with it. I am worried about the timeline with the students so I am mostly acting as a troubleshooter and helper to get them going. I talked with the teacher about getting some flip cameras, and she has actually started the process. They will take off well. I also scheduled some time for a teacher to talk about eportfolios with a class of seniors. I love this topic, and I know that the software is there to create some fabulous ones, but there is a limitation of time. There is no doubt that the use of eportfolios will explode in the next decade, and the traditional resume will be gathering dust with the telephone. I also experienced the same problem with the wireless today. It is so odd. I had to call the network wizard for help. This needs to be handled. My trip to the elementary yesterday did not go as planned. I cannot solve the issue of Activprimary. I may have to call another wizard. Hey, a busy but not a bad day................flick

February 27-28, 2009

I put two days here bacuause on the 28th I did some IT stuff for TSA. The group had its regional competition here at PV, and they needed an IT person. There were some glitches, but we got it working for the most part. PV did well in the competition. I also had a talk with my counterpart last year, and some of the things she is doing. It was quite good, and I do love to find out how she in integrating technology. We also talked with one of the TSA people from a district near here and heard his horror stories about his fight to just get computers. Some people need to get out of their caves. Friday turned out to be a lot of fun talking with the seniors and how to create electronic documents for view to a prospective employer. The students liked the talk, and T did a great job of assisting. Everything that I have researched for eports deals with PDF's, and I do understand why. We also solved a problem with the Janus video, and it should be ready quite soon. I also created a DVD for the middle school teachers for their conference. I did not have time to edit it, but I kind of liked the raw footage better with all of its foibles. A good week with a lot of learning on all levels. Well, I am posting this the first day of March, and so far it is coming in like a lamb. We will revisit the adage on the last day of the month. I will be talking with all of you later. Oh, I had to change the color scheme for this month to reflect Hibernia..........flick

PS--Hey, I forgot to thank C for all of his help Saturday. I do appreciate it....smack

February 26, 2009

I just have to tell you the interesting problem on of my CFF teachers posted to me. It dealt with creating layers in Activstudio. D and I spent an hour working with the problem. We got some of it working which led us into other possibilities. We could not solve all of the problems, but it went well. I also did an Indesign with K's class. That went well because the students were able to work independently and learn some of the intricacies of the program. It is nice that the onus is on the student and the teacher becomes the facilitator. They will also branch off into photoshop from here. The Janus project is coming together well, and we have a final meeting set up for next week where the students will present their video. The two girls did a great job, and I know they are looking forward to presenting in front of NASA. I have seen snippets of it, and I am anxious to view it. I am proud of the them--hey, hey (take me back to my old cheerleading days, yeah {yes, that is sarcasm at its finest with a little mixture of hyperbole}). The teachers got their lappys today, and I know I will have to do some tweaking on them, but I will await their calls. A very productive day!!! Tomorrow, I will talk about eportfolios to the seniors. This will be quite interesting, and I am looking forward to dealing with this topic. Well, I know you are awaiting the outcome...whoa, stop the presses. I just found out that one of our students did an HBO pilot when he was in 4th grade. It is wild. To view: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=419kaKo0HUo I must warn you all that is is HBO so some of it is quite questionable, let's say. That may pique some curiosity in some of my loyal readers er..... I mean reader. Hey, be back tomorrow to end the month and the week.............flick