Sharing files between school and home

Sharing files between school and home

                Do you ever start working on a test, or a new unit plan, at school, and then want to continue using it at home?  Or vice versa.

                Some of us email documents – or spreadsheets, or PowerPoint presentations –  back and forth (as attachments).  But there is another way using Edline.  This might be handy if you are having trouble with your email account.

                After you’ve logged into Edline, look for My File Locker, in the top left corner of the screen.

                When you click on “My File Locker,” you’ll get to the usual Edline screen where you can “Add a document,” just like you do for many other Edline functions.  Click on Add, then give the document a title.  Scroll down to “Import an existing file” and click on Browse.  Find the file on your computer and click on “Import.,” You’ll see the file name showing (so if you picked the wrong one, you can delete and start over).  If this is the right file, click  on “Save and return.” 

                You’ll see that the file (as the document name you used, not the file name) is displayed. 

                Later, when you’re at the other computer you want to work on, you can go to “My File Locker” and click on the document to work on it.

                One of the tiresome features of Edline is that it doesn’t like Office 2007 documents/spreadsheets/PowerPoints.  This is true here, too.  When you try to open the file, if it’s in the Office 2007 format, you’ll get an error message (even though both computers have Office 2007 on them).  But all is not lost; simply save the document and then open it, which will work just fine.  Or you can just save all your documents/spreadsheets, etc. as “Word 1997-2003 document,” which you have to do if you plan to post it on Edline, anyway. 

                This is also a handy way for students to transfer files without having to go into their personal email accounts, where they then have to read and forward the 42 joke chain-letters they’ve just received…  

Wish all your bookmarks/favorites from all your computers could be in one place?

                Now there’s a way to keep all your bookmark/favorite websites together in one place, accessible from your home computer, your school computer, your brother-in-law’s computer up at the lake – any computer with internet access.  There are other handy features, too, but more about those later.

                Del.icio.us (at www.Del.icio.us) is a free website for keeping all those links you are trying to keep track of in one place. 

                To see how it works, click here:

 

                Is this easy?  Yes.  First, to go www.del.icio.us and register.  You’ll need to create a userid and password.  I have a lot of websites like this that I use, so I use the same userid and password on all of them so that I can remember them.  You’ll also need to give a real email (useful when you forget your password.)

                Then follow the instructions to install on your computer.  Do it at home first.  Then do it at school (I have to confess I had a few problems installing it at school, too, but in the end, it did work.)  Unfortunately, I can’t walk you through this, since it’s already installed on all my computers!  But it’s pretty easy.

                Finally, sign in and start tagging websites you like.  Tagging, as you’ll recall from the video, is very important.  When you find a website you like, click on the Tag button that’s now on your browser.  You’ll see a dialog that includes a place to write notes about the website, if you like, and a place for tags.  Tags are what help you find that website again when you have 400+ websites in your Delicious files.  Instead of having to create folders and drag websites into them, as you had to with Bookmarks/Favorites, you just add tags.  Tags are keywords that you can search on.  

Some important points about tags.  First, you can have lots of tags for a bookmark, so include everything that you might think of.  Second, be specific.  “Teaching” may be a tad generic and relate to just about everything.  We’re looking for distinguishing features. Third, you can just click on the suggested tags given, or you can type them in yourself.  And fourth:  no spaces between words in Delicious – professional development is two tags, so if you want it as one idea, run the words together like this: professionaldevelopment.  Then when you want to find that, scroll through your alphabetized keywords and click on the keyword you want.  Then just the bookmarks associated with that keyword will pop up. (Don’t worry, the rest of them are still there.  Just click on Bookmarks up at the top, and they’ll all reappear.) 

                Now comes the social part of social bookmarking.  Recently, I wanted to teach a lesson on parody and was looking for good examples to show students.  I searched on “parody” in the search box at the top right in Del.icio.us.  This gave me bookmarks that other people had tagged with “parody.”  It even told me how many people had tagged each website.  While some were wildly inappropriate, I found several terrific sources that would have been buried somewhere deep in a Google search that I wouldn’t have found. 

                If you want to keep a bookmark private – not available to others who are searching on the tag you used – click on “do not share” when you create the bookmark (or when you edit the bookmark later).

                I have not yet bothered to delve deeper into the social aspects of Delicious, because what I have is working just fine for me.  But you may discover additional features – please share with us so we can all benefit from your experience.

                If you are having trouble installing Del.icio.us at school, let me know and I’ll come help you out.

Best,

Fran

Using the right click in Word

                Ever wonder why there are two (2) buttons on the mouse?  This is so that you can do things you often want to do with text, but without having to find the right place on the ribbon and tabs.  Each Office program offers different functions when you right-click, but these can save you a lot of time and trouble.  In Word, when you right-click, you are given many options:              

You can change formatting:

You’ll notice that there are options to change font and font size, change text to Bold or Italic, change text color, change text indent, bullet point (and you can even change the bullet). 

You can even change the type Style (Title, Heading1, etc.)  by clicking on either of Styles (down at the bottom) or the A with a pen next to it at the top.

 Generally you need to click on the text you want to change, then right click.  Sometimes, you’ll need to highlight the text you want to change.

You’ll also notice that there are drop-down arrows, which provide additional choices. 6For example, if you click on the Type Style’s drop down arrow, you’ll be given a menu of the type styles, right there.

If you’ve highlighted text, you can cut, copy or paste it, insert a hyperlink, change the formatting to bullets or numbering.

If you’ve clicked on a word, you can find synonyms, or even translate it into another language.

You can even look up information about a topic on-line, by right clicking on a word, and then selecting Look Up…

Don’t get disappointed if it doesn’t work the first time.  It can take a little practice to click or highlight correctly, so Word knows what you want to do. 

Adding a new document too cumbersome???

                Are you annoyed by the way you have to click several times in the new Word 2007, just to get a new document?  First Office button, then New and then Blank Document.  Want a short cut?

                Ctrl + N (press the control key while you press the N key at the same time) will get you a new document if you’re in Word, a new spreadsheet if you’re in Excel, and a new presentation if you’re in PowerPoint.  It takes a bit of a reach, but sure beats all that clicking around.

For similar useful information (from this year and last year), see www.franblo.edublogs.org where this message is also posted. 

Translating texting lingo

                Ever see a text message (or worse still an essay or research paper) filled with LOL, OMG, and OTOH?  Besides teaching students not to use these in formal writing (with is another issue), sometimes we just need to know what they are saying.  Suppose you see a message that might be harassment, but aren’t sure? 

Go to http://www.transl8it.com/cgi-win/index.pl  which will translate those pesky acronyms into English. It’s not always perfect, but it will give you an idea. 

You can also translate from English into text, if you’re perhaps trying to make a point to students.  Mine don’t “get” that texting jargon isn’t so helpful until I start using IMHO (in my humble opinion), OTOH (on the other hand), and other familiar adult-speak; then they start to see the problem.