FTP

I'm in the middle of my first video upload. It took many tries to get it the upload started, but I found SmartFTP, which seems to work pretty well. It has many of the same features of the old GetRight, which I used early on when dial-up was the only choice for connections. Anyway, SmartFTP is relatively simple to get and free unless you're using it in a business capacity. For personal use, there is no fee, although you'll get the "option" to buy every time you start it up. Just click "OK" and you're off to upload and download. Once, you've set it up for you're chosen destination, it's just a click-and-drag of file and you're transferring. Even though the video for DIME isn't quite what I want it to be yet, I'm seeing how this works ahead of time and hope to have a better rendition before too long.
Now I guess I'll have to figure out how to remove things from my plaza account...hmmm.

Office for All

Yet another thing that is useful comes out of the UF courses. A link was provided for the Open Office suite of programs. These can take the place of Microsoft's version and it's FREE :). I have limited experience with it so far, but it looks and acts much like the pay-per version. Any time I get a chance to avoid MS's monopoly, I'm happy. If anything pops up in this realm I'll update my thoughts, but it seems to be simple and similar. For the download, follow this link: Open Office

Another First

Today, I worked on completing another UF assignment and found myself in another first. To this point I hadn't made a connection between pages and number of words. Today's work had a word limit, not a page limit. I now see some relationship that I hadn't noticed before.
While doing the writings (which are many throughout the courses) I try as many different methods as I can and end up with different works. I'm having some fun playing with the different styles and see how they affect my end products. I re-read several papers today and found significant differences. Some sound better than others, but they reflect my trials. I learn in different ways and am still working to perfect my writing style. I have a certain degree of pride in my works. This blog(and my other one), however, is much less structured and more off the cuff, but still reflects one of my mental levels. I'm surprised that I'm enjoying the writing end of things. That's never really been a big interest to me, but I guess I'm a work in progress. I wonder where I'll end up?

First Web

Well, I've finally done a SIMPLE web page. It's a start...for me at least. So far it's somewhat painfully simple, with no graphics. There are a couple of links to some of my other stuff, but nothing too major. If you're interested in checking it out, just remember that it's just a start. I'll work on this as time and needs dictate. For now, this is it :)
Hoppy's IC Home Page

Video Issues

My latest work involves the creation of my first video...no, not that kind. It's part of my last class for the summer. DIME has the potential to change some aspects of my classroom and open new doors. It's also a good reminder that humor is an important part of the classroom. Don't be afraid to laugh at yourself!
After wasting much of the week trying to find a camera, and then most of today working to get one that my computer likes, I finally have a working piece of equipment that should fit the bill. I'll see what happens soon. My only concern now is getting used to the MS software and editing the creation. The story board is done, the location chosen and the actors "hired", so I guess it's time for "action". Hope it all goes well! My directorial debut is not far in the future!

Copyright

Today, I learned a bit about copyrights...and found that there are many people not paying attention to this stuff. This was the best of the sites that I visited. It contains a nice little chart to help you figure out just how legal you really are. Cathy Newsome put together a nice writing about the fair use for educators and copyrights
Her writing got me to thinking about some things that I've seen and done since starting teaching. I've also seen that teachers will be prosecuted for infringing on these rights. Just because we teach doesn't give us the ability to misuse the work of others. In the past, I've requested permission to use things in my class and have had no issues. Most people seem quite happy to have their work known by as many people as they can. Ask permission, give credit and keep on the right side of copyrights. It's not as difficult as it seems and does allow for those "wow, that's cool, I'll show the kids" sort of things.
Just something to think about when you're planning your next year. How much questionable stuff do you have in your filing cabinet?

Video Tips

Here are a few pages that will be helpful when looking at the uses of digital video and for helping you to make better videos. I found some good tips here. Of course, some are pretty much common sense, but there are really some things I hadn't considered before.
DV tips for the classroom
Apple Ed site
O'Reilly Mac page
I hope that these tips will help me as I try to create my first video for may latest class....never tried this before, so it should be interesting to say the least. I have my actors lined up and my story board pretty well set. I have a location and now all I need is the camera and to learn the software. This may be a bit time consuming and I foresee many mistakes. I just have to remember to save frequently and make different versions so I can easily revert to the video before I screwed it up. Hopefully I won't be pulling my hair out by the end of this little adventure!

New Things to Use

This summer, during the course of the Net K-12 and Digital Photography classes, I have found so many new things to try! I'm actually excited about teaching next year...I haven't been this excited since my first interactive white board arrived nearly 7 years ago. While I'll not be taking two classes at the same time again...a bit too confusing and time consuming, I enjoyed them both. N K-12 had the best reading text of any course so far. It wasn't like reading the standard text book, but it did a very good job of conveying information. DP had me doing some self-reflection and trying my own lesson plans. How long it had been since I "sat down" and did what I was asking my students to do and completed the entire thing, including the final product. That was good for me. Combining these two classes will definitely benefit my students next year.
They'll be working on a wiki for the team, doing "A Day in My Life" presentations at the start of the year and some will be blogging to create science newsletter to go home to all team parents. It's an exciting world and one that I'm feeling more comfortable in. This digital immigrant is diving into the Web 2.0 world lock, stock and barrel. It should be interesting!
Thanks to all who helped, prodded and simply made their thoughts available in their blogs! Collaboration is one of the great tools made available with this technology, and one that really seems to help me.
Good luck in later classes. Hope to "see" you in future classes.
mark