ATRC Podcast Notes

Podcast for May 11, 2007 - Episode 59

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Play time 50 minutes  - Program Notes

"They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."  ~Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol, 1977

Tech and Download news: Graduation day is here, the FCCC has announced availability of the new Microsoft products for sale to CC faculty and staff, updated StudyMate and Respondus, Windows Live Hotmail is live, JavaFX, Silverlight and Flash are going head-to-head, Thunderbird and Presently are new, Google is the strongest brand name in the world, Dell says XP is OK if you want it, the Encyclopedia of Life is launched, and the Pew Trust says most people are connected but few use the really good stuff.  David's Blackboard Feature of the Week is titled  "TGIF," that is, Thank God It's Finals.  He will describe ways to make working with the final Blackboard gradebook easier.  Haydn's Teaching with Technology segment is titled "The Pedagogy of Doing It Differently Next Time," wherein he offers tips on making your next online class more efficient and effective.  My Tech Talk Topic this week is "Motion Paths in PowerPoint."  Our gizmo this week is the worlds biggest vending machine.

Technology News Briefs

• Palomar College commencement exercises will occur next Friday, May 18 at 5pm on the football field.  Congratulations to all our graduates and transfer students.
   
• The Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC) has announced the availability for sale at very large discounts for CC faculty and staff the new Microsoft products: Windows Vista, Office 2007 and SharePoint Designer 2007 (the replacement for FrontPage).  Click here to visit the purchase starting page.  (Click the learn more... link in the buy Microsoft area of the page).  Be sure to follow the link after "purchase Microsoft through the Microsoft Campus Agreement."  You will be required to print and fax/mail the order form along with proof of college employment.
  
  Through our campus agreement we can get Windows Vista Business Edition (upgrade) for $45 plus tax, Office 2007 Enterprise edition for $45 plus tax, and SharePoint Designer for $40 plus tax.
   
• We have updated our versions of Respondus (3.5.3) and StudyMate (2.0.1), and will be renewing our license on these products for the next academic year.  If you do not use them, go to our download center to download and install (requires Palomar authentication).  If you already have them installed, click the Help menu and choose "Check for Update" and the program will update itself.  In addition to new versions, we have preconfigured the Blackboard interface to make it easier to connect the programs to our Blackboard content.
   
• Windows Live Hotmail went live this week (Monday).  Click here for the web site.  You start with 2GB of storage, "improved" spam filtering, and customizable design (including themes) that makes Hotmail look a lot more like Microsoft Outlook, including a preview pane and drag-and-drop filing. 
   
• On May 9 Microsoft released a patch to correct compatibility problems between Windows Vista and Apple iPod.  Click here for the download page.  The patch addresses issues with data corruption on the iPod when removed from a Vista computer.  It is available for download now, and will be automatically available via Windows Update on Tuesday, May 22.
   
• Also on May 9 Sun released JavaFX, "the first component of a new suite of Java-based development tools intended to vastly simplify development of rich interactive media applications that can run on the desktop, in a web browser, or on mobile devices...JavaFX isn't a completely independent runtime; it is essentially designed as a layer that sits on top of Java in order to make Java better-suited for rich application development." (ars technica).  To find out more, click here for the OpenJFX Project web site.
   
• Sun's JavaFX is meant to compete with Adobe Flash, and so is the release two weeks ago of Microsoft Silverlight, in beta.  Silverlight is supposed to be the Flash killer, but most everyone doubts it.  It's worth visiting the web site just to see the demos.
  
  In addition to the Silverlight announcement, Microsoft has also announed the availability of a public beta of its SharedView product, a group collaboration and sharing tool.  Click here to learn more and download the beta.
   
• Mozilla announced the release of its open source Thunderbird 2.0 email client about 2 weeks ago.  Click here for more information and the download link.
   
• Google also announced the development of "Presently," its online presentation maker (and purported PowerPoint killer).  It is not here yet, but will be soon (Wired).  Watch this space.
  
  They have also announced a new feature called "Web History," which tracks your browsing behavior in order to more quickly retrieve relevant personal searches.  You have to give Google permission to do this sort of tracking.  Faust faced a similar bargain with Mephistopheles.  Find out more about Web History at http://www.google.com/history. 
   
• And speaking of that friendly giant, Google has been named the most powerful world brand of 2007 in a survey conducted by Millward Brown (BBC).  The survey also attempts to associate brand with value, assigning a value the brand is expected to earn in the future.  Google replaces Microsoft, who was last year's winner.  Here are the top ten world brands:

• File under "not so fast, Michael."  Dell announced this week that it will once again become possible to get 4 models of Inspiron laptop and 2 models of Dimension desktops delivered new with Windows XP, rather than Windows Vista.  This is after the company ran a poll at its IdeaStorm web site and visitors voted overwhelmingly to be able to specify the older version of Windows.  We concur.  It is just not time yet, because of driver and software compatibility issues, to upgrade (theage.com.au).
   
• Patch Tuesday occurred this week.  There were cumulative patches for IE7, the Office 2003 productivity programs, Windows XP and Windows Vista.  We will no longer be reporting specific patches since the OS/Office/browser canvas has become just too complex.  Those interested will find details on Microsoft security patches at microsoft.com/security.
   
• And while we are filing, file this one under "get 'em hooked then reel 'em in."  Microsoft announced this week that in an effort to raise their user base from 1,000,000,000 to 2,000,000,000 by 2015 they will be providing at almost no cost (an average of $3.00 per bundle) their most valuable software to the world's most needy users.  The bundle will include Windows XP, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Microsoft Math 3.0, Learning Essentials 2.0, and Windows Live Mail desktop (Ars technica).  A kind hearted gesture?  In their own version of good cop bad cop, Bill Gates said "All human beings deserve a chance to achieve their full potential," while  Microsoft senior vp Orlando Ayala said, "This is a business, not a philanthropic effort" (bink)  thanks Orlando, we were confused.
   
• The Encyclopedia of Life (eol.org) commenced this week.  It is the dream child of world renowned entomologist E. O. Wilson.  Click here to see his TED prize wish, calling for the creation of the eol.  "Comprehensive, collaborative, ever-growing, and personalized, the Encyclopedia of Life is an ecosystem of websites that makes all key information about life on Earth accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. Our goal is to create a constantly evolving encyclopedia that lives on the Internet, with contributions from scientists and amateurs alike;"  Sort of the Wikipedia of life sciences.  Click here for a set of sample pages.  "“This is one of those great things that will help everyone,” says Cristián Samper, the acting secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. “It’s one of those fun projects for humanity" (MSNBC).  Click here for the official, inaugural press release.
   

• "Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources has developed the Copyright Renewal Database with a grant from the Hewlett Foundation. The database has been nicknamed the 'Copyright Determinator.'  Determining the copyright status of books has become a pressing issue as libraries and businesses develop plans to digitize materials and make works in the public domain widely available. In order to appropriately select books for digitization, these organizations need to determine efficiently and with some certainty the copyright status of each work in a large collection. The Determinator supports this process, bringing all [U.S.] 1923-1963 book-renewal records together in a single database and, more significantly, making searchable renewal records that had previously been distributed only in print" (Jill Hurst-Wahl).
   

• "The Pew Internet & American Life Project released on Sunday a study (PDF: A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users) of people's 'evolving relationships to cyberspace.'  Pew found in a survey that 73 percent of U.S. adults own a cell phone, 68 percent have a desktop computer, 30 percent possess a laptop, and 73 percent connect to the Internet, but that very few use them to express themselves publicly via Web 2.0 applications" (CNet).
   
• Featured Safari Tech Book Online:  YouTube 4 You by Michael Miller.  "VIEW. UPLOAD. SHARE. That's what YouTube is all about–viewing, uploading, and sharing your favorite videos. And the book you hold in your hands will help you get the most out of this hot website. You'll learn how to find the latest viral videos, share your favorite videos with friends and the YouTube community, and shoot and upload your own videos to the YouTube website. YouTube 4 You is the first book to take you inside YouTube, show you how the site works, and provide tips and tricks for becoming a more successful YouTuber!"  Palomar maintains a subscription to Tech Books Online, and the books can be accessed from any computer on the campus network, or from off the network with a password obtainable from the library. 

  Listen to the news [mp3 - 18:21]

Training Opportunities

• Academic Technology Training
  • We have completed our training schedule for Spring 07.  We will announce the new schedule in this space in a couple of weeks.
     
• Palomar Office 2007 Training
  • The Information Services department will be offering training next week, on May 14, 16 and 17, In Word, Excel and Outlook 2007.  Contact the help desk (phone ext. 2140) to schedule a time.

• @ONE training resources:

  • Multi-week, instructor facilitated online classes.
  • Lunch'N'Learn 1-hour webinars.
  • Self-paced courses.
     
  • The @ONE summer institute will be held at MiraCosta college from May 30 - June 1.  Click here for more information.
     
• Free training from Microsoft:
   
  • Free Microsoft eLearning courses: for a limited time access to these excellent e-Learning products on Office 2007 is available.  Click here to access a gateway to sign-up for training in the new Office interface, Access 2007, Excel 2007, Infopath 2007, OneNote 2007, Outlook 2007, PowerPoint 2007, Word 2007, Visio 2007, and Groove 2007.  You may also download a free e-book from this site titled First Look 2007 Microsoft Office System in PDF format.
     

Blackboard Feature of the Week - David Gray

TGIF

Thank God It’s Finals! – A Blackboard Checklist

Ten days from now the first of the summer classes officially begin, but for the moment let’s all try to get done with Spring. Obviously the most important thing looming for faculty right now is submitting final grades for their students. Here are a couple of Gradebook tips to make that process go more smoothly:

1. Change your point of view – The gradebook spreadsheet view is quite daunting, with dozens of students assignment columns meeting in a grid that requires horizontal scrolling on even the largest monitors. It may help to use the Gradebook Views feature, linked right under the Gradebook in the middle right of the Control Panel, to look at all student grades for a specific item, or all item grades for a specific student.
    
2. Explain grades to students in Blackboard – A “new with version 7.2” feature of the Blackboard gradebook is the ability to post comments back to students directly linked with their gradebook entries. When you click on a grade in the gradebook, you should now see an Edit Comment button over at the right, which will let you send secure messages about that grade back to show up on the student My Grades list.
    
3. Switch to a filtered brand – Not cigarettes, but gradebook filters. You can filter the Blackboard gradebook view to show only the student names and Totals, which really can streamline the process of submitting final grades. An instructional video on this topic may be found here (requires Flash).

An additional reminder should be given at this time too; in line with our policy of removing Blackboard courses a year after the semester they were offered in, the Spring 2006 courses will be removed from our Blackboard system on May 19th, 2007. If you haven’t already, you may want to archive your course, as in the instructional video online here.

	Listen to this segment only [mp3 - play time = 7:49]
	See the index of Dave's previous "Blackboard Feature of the Week" segments.

Note:  To get to David's vodcast site, click here.

Teaching with Technology - Dr. Haydn Davis

The Pedagogy of Doing It Differently Next Time: Online Teaching Tips

Increasingly, it seems that one semester runs right into the next – particularly for those of us who teach over the summer. But, as many of my colleagues have commented, each new semester gives us an opportunity to do things a bit differently. In this segment I will comment on a few simple strategies that will help you do your next online class more efficiently and more effectively. While no one will adopt all of these tips, my hope is that the readers will find one or two of the following strategies helpful. Source: http://www.onlineteachingtips.org/

Reusable Announcements. Those of us who teach the same online course each semester tend to use similar announcements (e.g. welcome announcement) over and over. Why not develop your announcements as a word processing file? This way, you can copy and paste in relevant announcements as appropriate and maintain a record of them. Over time you might develop categories of announcements to make searching easier.

Discussion Board: Best Practice. Developing and maintaining a robust discussion board takes work. First, the evidence is clear: If you want students to post you have to reward the behavior, this usually means points. Second, your expectations and requirements should be clearly defined. A best practice strategy online instructors are using is to reproduce a short discussion post-and-response example (perhaps copied from a previous class). Students are much more likely to post well when they have clear guidelines and clear examples of what is expected.

Keep Discussion Board Posts. If you populate your discussion board forums with initial threads, you can keep these in a word processing file then copy and paste into a new discussion board as needed. I frequently collect and later post (anonymously) particularly thoughtful student comments and then ask others to respond to them (e.g. “A former student said . . . how would you respond to him?”); these too can be maintained in a word processing file and posted into a current discussion board.
Syllabus Quiz. How often do students carefully read the syllabus we spend so much time creating? Probably not as much time as we’d like. “Encourage” them to read it carefully by posting a syllabus quiz and award a couple of points for anyone who gets 90% or higher. Alternatively, use Blackboard’s adaptive release feature to only release other material after students have achieved a certain score on the syllabus quiz.

Online Interaction. An underused Blackboard feature is the student homepage tool. To promote a sense of community, have students develop their homepages and then construct a “Mystery Student Contest” in which you ask questions about some of the students in the class (obtained from the homepages). The first 5 people to answer all the questions (i.e. identify the mystery students) receive bonus points. (See example: http://daphne.palomar.edu/psyc100/Forms/Mystery_Summer2006.htm).

	Listen to this segment only [mp3 - play time = 6:02]
	See the index of Haydn's previous "Teaching with Technology" segments.

Tech-Talk-Topic - Terry Gray

Motion Paths in PowerPoint

Humans are keen to detect small motions; perhaps an inheritance from our species hunter-gatherer past.  In any event, for Homo PowerPointicus, a little motion goes a long way in improving a PowerPoint presentation.  There is a simple, flash-like process built in to PowerPoint that most people do not use.  It is called the "motion path."  Motion paths allow you to animate objects on your PowerPoint slides, that is, make them move in a predefined or custom path across the slide.

To animate an object with a motion path, first create the object.  That is, place a graphic on screen, type some text, or draw something on the slide, either using the drawing tools, Autoshapes, or freehand.  Now select the object.  You will see the sizing handles appear around the borders of its invisible "container."  On the Custom Animation task pane (if your task pane is not visible on the right of your screen, press Ctrl-F1 to turn it on) select Motion Paths > Draw Custom Path > Scribble.  (Of course if you want to use one of the predefined paths ("Bounce Right," "Diagonal Down right," "Up," and so on) so much the easier).

Now, place your cursor (which has become a little pencil icon) over the object you wish to animate and draw the motion path.

You can control its appearance, speed, reverse its course, and so on using the Custom Animation controls on the task pane.

Simple and effective.

	Listen to this segment only [mp3 - play time = 4:05]
	See an index of previous "Tech Talk Topics" segments.

Gizmo of the Week

The Worlds Biggest Vending Machine

From Japan with love.  Japan's love affair with the vending machine just keeps growing.  They now have the world's biggest vending machine: an entire store.  Yes.  Tokyo T-shirts is not a store with a vending machine in it.  It IS a vending machine.  Instead of the T-shirts being neatly folded and stacked by size on shelves (you know, the fold you can never reproduce at home) they are sealed in plastic tubes with bright, eye-catching advertising on the outside.  You pick your tube, drop your yen, enter your number, and out tumbles the merchandise.  So much more orderly and efficient, not to mention sanitary, than those piles of picked over garments on American shelves.  Now, if the designers of this store could just tackle the pet shop...

(Source: wired - picture credit: Tokyo Times)

Music

The music for today's show was provided by Magnatune.com, and is used through their Creative Commons license for podcasts.  Today's album was "Last of the Pleasure Seekers" by Rocket City Riot.  "Hooray for good old-fashioned butt-shaking rock-and-roll! Last of the Pleasure Seekers is a satisfying fistful of new tracks by Rocket City Riot....With influences ranging from Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and Muddy Waters to Iggy and the Stooges, the MC5 and AC/DC, Rocket City Riot bring some much needed substance to the over-commercialized punk-pop scene"

"The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting."  ~ Charles Bukowski

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