Monthly Archives: March 2009
** GLMA Legislative Update **
The Senate Appropriations Committee passed the FY 2010 budget this morning. The full Senate will vote on the budget this Wednesday. Since the Senate made changes to the version the House passed, a conference committee will be appointed to work out the differences before the final budget passes on Day 40.
Two budget highlights mentioned by Chairman Jack Hill (R – Reidsville) include 1) funding for the 10% salary incentive for NBC teachers is intact, and 2) teacher furloughs are not in the budget.
Stay tuned…
Michelle & Lasa
Michelle Crider
JLH Consulting
2711 Irvin Way, Suite 111
Decatur, GA 30030
404.299.7700 Phone
404.299.7029 Fax
Document Cam + Camtasia = iPod consistent access to information
In an attempt to assist teachers as they plan instructional units, media specialists are the prime candidates to introduce technologies that allow learners to access and review information at the point of need. One way to accomplish this is through use of Camtasia Studio and a digital document camera (such as Aver Media AVerVisoin 300AF +).
For the cataloging course I teach, I needed a tool that would allow me to capture a presentation of a book demonstration (infamous Dewey!) so that students could repeatedly see a video of how the resource should be used. I purchased a document camera (AVerMedia AVerVision 300AF+) and pulled the video of the demonstration onto the screen. This is done easily through the software that comes with the doc cam.
Then, I opened Camtasia and selected the screen area where the doc cam was projected. I added my voice narration as I recorded the screen movement through Camtasia. Voila! I have a wonderful video of explanation for Abridged Dewey Classification, Table 1 (one video of 12!!). See for yourself!
Now, once I had this recorded, I saved it as an ipod cast plus flash movie. This way, I could post it to a server and provide the link to my students so that they could quickly download and view the video. But, to take this a step further, since I saved this as an iPod cast, students could place this on their iPods and view it any time they needed, no matter where they were, when they were working on assignments for the course.
Cost of these tools: AVerVision 300AF between $500 and $600. Camtasia: $25 for version 5 and $150 for version 6. (I used version 5.)
I can see this process benefiting math teachers as they demonstrate mathematical formulas, science teachers as they draw diagrams of atoms, social studies teachers as they present time lines, anything that requires a visual “discussion,” could be presented using Camtasia (or a free online version of such a tool) and a document camera.
If you share this procedure with your teachers, or present it as a quick in-service, or demonstrate it at a faculty meeting as a possible application for your teachers (especially high school), you may become someone’s new best friend!!
Dr. Phyllis R. Snipes, University of West Georgia
** GLMA Legislative Update **
Living in the Clouds
I recently read a post in Doug Johnson’s eloquent Blue Skunk Blog about cloud computing that started me thinking more about this topic. Are you cloud computing? You’re probably doing some form of cloud computing without even realizing it. There are many different definitions of cloud computing, so whether you are cloud computing depends on who you ask. I like Doug’s definition, which is using the Internet for applications and file storage while using nothing on one’s own computer hard drive except a web browser. Ahhh…the freedom…like floating on a cloud. But I’m a little bit of a coward. Are my files really secure when I save them on the web? Really, really secure? For example, when I send messages via Gmail, I have noticed that Gmail’s sponsored links reflect topics I’m discussing in my email. Are they also scanning my Google docs or files I’m emailing to myself as part of my cloud computing start-up agenda? Suppose my docs contain details of an invention I’m trying to patent, and someone at Google steals my ideas? Call me paranoid, but cloud computing does involve an element of trust. But if you are a trusting soul, here are some baby step apps you may want to try:
Box.net | Simple Online Collaboration: Online File Storage, FTP Replacement, Team Workspaces ~ Free Version via kwout
First, for file sharing, and online saving, in addition to Google Docs, consider box.net and drop.io. These are great to recommend to your students who do not use flash drives to store their information, or who lose them fifteen minutes after purchasing them. Box will allow you to save files up to 25 MB, and will give you up to 1 GB of storage for free. You also get five collaboration folders that you can share with your colleagues–for your students, this could be a shared project. Box is like an online file box for all your important files to help you feel safe, secure, and organized. You can upload and download your files with no special software needed, and you can share files instantly with anyone. All you do is email your file to Box and they save it for you until it is needed. You can even host photos with no bandwidth limit. If you need more storage, there are paid versions available. If you aren’t sure the paid versions are worth it, you can try them out for free for two weeks.
With drop.io, you always get 100 MB “drops” for free. For $10 a year you get one drop (upload) and one GB of storage. For more money, you get more storage and more drops. You don’t even have to create an account or remember a user name and password as with most Web 2.0 sites. You do have to remember the location (URL) which you assign to your “drop” as the exchange points are called. The drops are private, and you determine how available you want them to be to others, such as students allowing access to teachers. All you do is name your drop; upload your file; decide whether or not to password protect the file; choose a date when you want the file to be deleted (tell your students, for example, to select a couple of weeks after their papers are due–don’t make it too early in case you give them an extension or they have to do a rewrite, or in case they get a reprieve from the governor!); then select an option of whether others can view; view and add; or view, add and delete. Now just hit the big red “Drop it!” button and your file is saved in lovely cyberspace. All you do is go back to your previously-named address (what–you didn’t forget that URL already, did you?) and open that file. What could be easier?
For photo sharing, may I suggest Flickr, Picasa, and Photobucket. Photobucket allows you to store up to 10,000 photos and hours of video for free. Picasa is a Google product that gives you one GB of free storage–about enough space for 4,000 wallpaper-size photos. Flickr is probably the most popular online photo storage site. It allows you to upload, edit, organize, and share your photos. It is also home to Flickr Creative Commons that provides copyright-friendly photos for our students to use in their school assignments, making it transparent to them how to give appropriate credit to the photo’s creator.
If you try these great Web 2.0 tools, you still won’t be completely in the clouds, but you’ll be on your way! In the meantime, check out Doug’s great blog and another great article from InfoWorld.
Ruth Fleet
Creekview High School
Last Day To Participate in the AASL School Libraries Count! Longitudinal Survey
from the American Association of School Librarians:
Only one day left for AASL School Libraries Count! Longitudinal Survey. AASL’s “School Libraries Count!” longitudinal survey will close at midnight, Thursday, March 19th! Your participation is vital to ensuring an accurate reflection of nation-wide school library media programs. The survey may be accessed directly at http://www.aaslsurvey.org/.
Starting with 2009 participants, you will have access to pull your school’s submission and compare with the 50th, 75th and 95th percentile groups from the survey results later this year. Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of this important study and gain access to your personalized report.
The survey only takes a few minutes—please take just a few minutes to participate in this important survey. Thank you!
Buffy Hamilton, Teacher-Librarian
Creekview High School
