eLearning at TIGS: Di Epoff’s Blog

1. Bookmark your blog url

2. Record your url, username and password

4. Log in to WordPress

5. The Dashboard will open

6. Click Change Theme or click on the Design tab

7. Select a theme

8. Click Visit Site to check it out

9. Scroll down to the Site Admin tab and this will take you back into the backend of your blog where you can edit and blog

10. Click the Write tab and a new post window will appear

11. Give your post a title

12. Write something

13. Format it using the format options

14. To add (upload) an image, it must be a small web sized image, so you may need to resize it first and save it to your hard drive before you upload to to the blog. See my post on Resizing images for the internet (use the search function on my blog).

15. To upload, click the Add New Media button in the format pane

16. Dont use the Upload button, go to the Browser Uploader link instead

17. Browse to find your files on your computer

18. Click Upload

‘10 STEPS TO GET TO KNOW 07′

STEP 1

Using the Microsoft online conversion tutorials: Migrating from 2003 to 2007

Copy and Paste the required url below in the Internet Explorer address bar. Dont use Firefox as Firefox wont read links created by Microsoft!

Microsoft Word:

http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/asstvid.aspx?assetid=XT100766331033&vwidth=1044&vheight=788&type=flash&CTT=11&Origin=HA100744321033

Microsoft Powerpoint:

http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/asstvid.aspx?assetid=XT101493271033&vwidth=1044&vheight=788&type=flash&CTT=11&Origin=HA101490761033

Microsoft Excel:

http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/asstvid.aspx?assetid=XT101493291033&vwidth=1044&vheight=788&type=flash&CTT=11&Origin=HA101491511033

Microsoft Access:

http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/asstvid.aspx?assetid=XT102389151033&vwidth=1044&vheight=788&type=flash&CTT=11&Origin=HA102388991033

STEP 2

The tutorial title page loads. Now Add this link to your favourites: Favourites menu > Add to Favourites (the site doesnt respond well to the Back button)

Click Start, and the tutorial window loads the old Word 2003 interface. If you undertake the specific task like you normally would - eg Edit > Copy, the window changes to a Word 2007 window and a little video shows you the steps, highlighting the key strokes with an orange box

The tutorial caters for different learning styles too! You can choose not to watch the video, but instead, however the mouse over the last step of an action and a little dialogue window will pop-up to tell you the steps in words

Note: to return to the 2003 tutorial, just click anywhere inside the 2007 interface after it has shown you what to do. Remember its not an application, just an interactive tutorial. If you want to practice on the real thing, open the Word 2007 application: Start> All programs > Microsoft Office.

STEP 3

Use the tutorial to find out how to do the following basic tasks in 2007:

Save As

Print

Insert picture

Format columns

Insert table and format it

STEP 4

Use the tutorial to do several tasks that are specific to what you might normally do with Word 2003 until you familiarise yourself with where things are in Word 2007

STEP 5

Discovering Word 2007: a guided journey

You will have noticed some key differences between the 2003 and 2007 versions

The main difference is the Ribbon at the top of the window - everything that used to be located in Pull-down Menus is located in Command Sets within the Ribbon. These sets have additional Tabs/Buttons/menus within them. Everything is much more graphic and easy to see.

Lets Get Started

Open Microsoft Word 2007 (the application): Start> All programs > Microsoft Office

Keep the tutorial in Explorer running in the background in case you wish to refer to it later

1. Open a new document that includes the following (you can copy and paste some from somewhere):

- two or three short paragraphs of text spaced under:

- one main heading, and

- two sub headings

2. Click on HOME menu. Each of the Home Command Sets expand to reveal more options than are visible (bottom left of window - click on arrow). Play with the first set

3. Position your cursor next to a heading on your page. Click on the Style Command Set and hover the pointer over one of the heading Styles: the heading on your page previews the style result. Once you find one you like, click on the Style button to cahnge the text on the page. scroll through body text options etc and experiment

4. Click on the INSERT menu. Position cursor on next line. Click on the Table button and drag out how many rows and cells you wish to include. The Insert Table option in the pop-up window allows you more options than are displayed

5. Click on the DESIGN menu and with the table selected hover over any of the many table styles to find one you like. Click to change. Play with the Table Style Options button and the Draw Borders etc to see what these tools do

6. Go back to INSERT menu and click Picture. Locate a picture file and insert it. Play with the Picture options: Picture Shape, Picture Border, Picture Effects and the Editing options: Brightness, Contrast, Recolour. Also check out Arrange and Size buttons.

7. Go back to INSERT menu and click the Smart Art button. Select from the many options in the pop-up window and then customise these in the Design menu: with the smart art selected (make sure you’re in the Design menu), try Change Colours, Quick Styles, Change Layout etc.

8. Go back to INSERT menu and click the Chart button. Select a chart style. An Excel pop up spreadsheet opens: enter data, add data or columns or rows and see how the chart changes. To edit data after you have inserted a formatted chart, go to Design button > Click Edit Data and the Excel spreadsheet opens

9. Go back to INSERT menu and click the Links button. Click Hyperlink. Copy the url of my Blog page and click back on the hyperlink pop-up window. Paste in the Address bar bottom of the window. Click OK. The Hyperlink is now a clickable url link on your Word page. To use a title rather than a long url, copy the url of the page - so copy my blog url again. In the hyperlink pop-up window, type Di’s Blog in the ‘text to display’ box and paste the url in the ‘Address’ bar. Click ok. Now when you click on ‘Di’s Blog’, on the Word doc, the blog will load in the browser

10. Now, on your own play with the Page Layout menu, to see where things are located and then go back to anything else that you noticed along the way

For those who prefer more detail, Microsoft has a great online tutorial with written notes. Click on the link below to go there (it works with any browser):

Microsoft Get Familiar with Word

Closing the Gap

In his article,
“Closing the Gap Between Education and Technology”, Chris Riedel refers to Mark Benno’s (Apple guru) claim that our students think in entirely new ways about technology and this is reflected in how they creatively use everyday technology.

Riedel urges teachers to see the value and learning potential of technologies that students use all of the time, and refers to a situation Benno encountered recently involving the use of an MP3 player:

“MP3 players, for example, do not mean by default that the student is listening to music. Recounting a recent experience in an airport, Benno reminisced about asking a college student sporting an iPod and a set of white earphones, “what are you listening to?”

Her reply: “Which ear?”

The young woman he was referring to had two MP3 players and was listening to a chemistry lecture in one ear and music in the other. “It helps me get in the zone,” she told Benno, who shared his amazement at the revelation. Kids use technology in ways many of us would never think of, he said.”

Riedel’s article is well worth a read as it highlights the growing rift between the way teachers currently teach students and the way students teach and learn themselves outside of school.

Traditionally, schools have held a privileged position as the prime point of access for education - places where students go to learn what they need to know to get ahead in the world. Riedel’s article makes me question how long this will remain the case. Benno claims that students don’t ask questions about how to use technology but ask which technologies they might access to solve problems.

They seem to learn the ‘how’ as they solve the problem - they are multi-tasking technological wizards.

Gen Y and the new Gen Zers are much more focused on what they can DO with information and HOW they can do it NOW, than ever before. And they wish to share this process, preferably with their peers.

Problem-based learning opportunities. Collaborative teamwork. Proactive learning. Communal interaction. Process-focused solutions. Visual, social, interactive technology. These point to new literacies, where focus is on what students can DO with information rather than the content itself.

There is a huge cultural shift happening and if we aren’t mindful and proactive, schools will lose their relevance in the very near future.

Profound cultural change implies pedagogical change: a fundamental shift from traditional teaching and learning roles, a re-evaluation of what a 21st century ‘classroom’ encompasses or even looks like and a restructuring of teacher-learner relationships.

Crossing Borders

In attempting to walk-the-talk, I have collaboratively set up an experimental Web 2.0 ‘ning’ social network for TIGS Photography students with a colleague, Kerry Short, from Wanganui Park Secondary College in Victoria - a school chosen for its similar background - a strong community of students who are passionate about photography.

Blended Learning

We have created this network to complement what we both do in the classroom: which is largely develop student-centred programs where students take the initiative in working through a quite rigorous program of scaffolded projects, largely undertaken at their own pace.

Our education.ning site.com site is called ‘Crossing Borders’ and it purposefully challenges stereotypical ideas about teaching and learning. Crossing Borders has multiple functions that contribute to strong educational outcomes and pedagogies: it includes a communal photographic gallery; home pages for students, classes and groups; teacher blogs; community events; information sites for students to access class information at home; tutorial videos made and posted by teachers; and the ability for all members to comment and talk to each other in a safe, transparent and managed learning environment. One of our initiatives is to invite a number of ex-students from both schools (who are now practicing as professional photographers in Australia and overseas). Several are already maintaining a presence on the site and have assumed the role of mentors for our students. This has generated lots of interest from our community of students in a short space of time.

How is it going after four weeks? Currently students are on the site in the evenings and weekends, they have posted photos, talked a bit about themselves, formed new friends, shared comments about each other’s works, posted discussion boards, participated in a community ‘event’, talked to students and teachers from the sister school, shared thoughts with mentors and have grasped the opportunity to interact and share their work and ideas faster than we ever imagined! Students are working well beyond the classroom walls, have accessed tutorials and sites that we posted but not covered in class yet!

Its an exciting project and I’ll keep you posted on its progress.<b></b>

Di Goodman (Epoff)

Well, here we are at the start of a fresh new term and year at TIGS. As this is the second year of the Strategic Plan, several major eLearning strategies will shape the future for eLearning at TIGS in 2009.

NETWORK and MICROSOFT 2007 UPDATE

Over the summer vacation, our IT guys, Neil Cross, Andrew Greenlees and Josh Lukins worked tirelessly to update our servers and install Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Office 2007 products on all computers across the school. This update will facilitate new ways in which staff can use and access files. Admin staff will receive training in 2007 products in February and teaching staff will participate in faculty workshops in the transition from Office 2003 to 2007, on the forthcoming Professional Development Day on 9th March.

A NEW WEBSITE

Soon we expect to have the first stage of our new school website up and running. The new  site promises to significantly change the way staff, students and parents and the TIGS community learn and interact with the school. It will incorporate many exciting new features such as an online newsletter; a portal to key staff and departmental blogs and later in the year, teacher home-pages where students can gain access to key class information anywhere, anytime. Features of these home pages will include access to class photo albums, student blogs or journals, discussion boards and the ability for teachers to upload podcasts. Of course it will take some time to train staff and students in the use of the website and all of its functions but it has the potential to pave the way to transform the way that students interact with the school and their teachers.

For parents, the website promises to be a goldmine of information about what is happening at school and the new exciting interface that our IT guys have designed is sure to have a big impact!

INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARDS

Thanks to the generous donation of the P&F, we have just completed the installation of the first of the new Promethean Interactive Whiteboards in the senior school. The IWB is strategically placed in the Goodhew Research Centre in the eastern computer bay, where staff from across the school can book it for lessons.

Training workshops for staff will commence in the next two weeks. Throughout 2009, we will commence rolling out interactive whiteboards across the senior school classrooms. This will continue over the next few years. Maths will be the first department to benefit from the roll-out.