file extensions connect files to the right programs by telling the computer which program to use to open your files!
When you hear things in trainings like ‘.swf’ or ‘.jpg,’ those are file extensions. Some have even become part of our regular vocabulary without many even knowing that they’re talking about a file extension! An .mp3, for example, is a type of file, even though now the word is becoming synonymous with ’song.’
What is it, and what does it do? This is important. A file extension tells your computer what file type it’s dealing with so it knows what program it should use to open a file. For example, can you imagine opening an .mp3 in Microsoft Word? It just wouldn’t work.
If you open a file in microsoft word, you’re opening a .doc file. It gets confusing when a program opens and uses a bunch of different file extensions.
For example, why do we need .mov, .avi, .flv, etc… they’re all video types, right? Why do we need .wav and .mp3? They’re all audio, right? Yes, but the difference is size in those examples. A song in .wav is a different than the same song saved as a .mp3. Imagine a piece of data is the size of a marble. A file is made up of a bunch of data. If you filled an entire classroom full of marbles and called it a song file, that would be size of a song as a .wav. If you put a few marbles in a mason jar, you’d have the size of the song as an .mp3. Now you’re seeing the advantage of using different file types, right? File extensions indicate the file type -that’s important.
How many file types are there? Hundreds, so don’t bother trying to learn them all. The good news is that there are way fewer that you’ll actually have to worry about, and most, you’ll find, you already know! In the comments below, I’m going to start a list of common file types. I’m hoping folks will help out by listing file types they run into in virtual education with ’the skinny’ on each file type. If we get a big enough list, I’ll compile it to a table and share it!
As an English teacher, I often have basic memory tasks for students to perform. They need to know the definitions of vocabulary words, and they also need to know titles, authors, eras, and origins of classic literature. It’s tough to just ask students to memorize a list, and here I have a new toy/tool for you!
Online studying via flash cards is no new thing. If you really wanted to, it would be possible to just create a series of questions and answers on powerpoint and send it to your students as a study tool. But what CoboCards.com allows students to do is create flash cards collaboratively and then actually study collaboratively.
There is a tool that allows teachers to see how many students have contributed to the flash cards library, and there is a feedback tool that tells students exactly how they’re doing on important concepts… especially valuable for those EOC classes!
Check out the tutorial below to see some of the basic functions of this impressive online flashcard site, and keep in mind that there are more in-depth tutorials on the site!
Most of the tips and tricks we’ve gone over here so far have been specifically for online teaching and learning. Today’s tip is a wonderful tip for online teachers, and it’s also a great tip for busy professionals of all kinds! The desktop background you have right now is probably pretty and stylish, but your desktop background can be functional too! If you are using XP, you can use a google calendar as your background, which will keep you mindful of your deadlines as well as your timeline. Using this tutorial can help development teams stay on task. One question -does anyone know how to use this method to link multiple Google calendars so that if, say, the English IV team has a calendar, there is an NCVPS calendar, and then you also have a personal and a professional calendar, all 4 can be on your desktop? I’ll put some thought to it and see if I can come up with a part II to this tutorial.
Jen P, English Department Chair, wrote: I do something similar with texter @ the beginning of each semester – this way I can not only fire off a student’s parent/dla, but also formulate a generic message that can be customized with a few key words.
Nice find Jen! Texter is a great free tool that allows us to write often repeated phrases with only a few keystrokes. It can instantaneously write something like your signature line, a salutation, or even an entire email. In the blog entry below about how to email from the grade book, texter could be used instead of Windows Notepad.
You’d have your three feedback notes for students set up as key words like ‘hype, failing, and acing,’ and then the whole message would drop right into the email. Adding this step is great, because with it you can avoid jumping back and forth, copying and pasting from notepad. It’s a great find! Below is a quick tutorial posted originally by ‘lifehacker,’ who I encourage you to add to your RSS Feeds in Google Reader, which was covered earlier.
Again, thanks for sharing Jen… now this is what I call a PLC! What great folks to work with!
Keeping DLA’s and parents informed is super time consuming when you’re stuck with using the phone. This tutorial shows you how to save loads of time by sending out informal progress reports to the student, dla, and parent directly from the grade book. The tutorial is about 8 minutes long, but if you spend the time to go over it, you’ll save hours and hours next semester. Please leave comments on the blog and tell others -help us all become the best possible online teachers and developers we can be.
Shu
Note: apparently informing DLA’s and parents on how their kids are doing with specific grade information is a ferpa violation -according to our legal system, the only way to send grades is in a password protected excel sheet. (Yeah right, we all have time to do THAT twice every week!) Here’s the best way to handle this hiccup: It’s ok to tell the dla and parent that the student needs to catch up -just not the student’s actual grade. Send an introduction email to all of your dla’s and parents early in the semester, and let them know that when your email includes a sentence like ‘please catch up’ at the top, that’s ‘code.’ Also, and I’ll write a blog article on this later, make this your number 1 ground rule in class: Students should meet with a parent or dla at least once every week to go over the assignment schedule and the ‘my grades’ button. Having someone to report to will keep them from falling behind.
The tutorial below shows what you can do when you have a sharedcopy account. Basically, sharedcopy allows you to use a webpage as it is the moment you grab it. It doesn’t update in unexpected ways, and it doesn’t disappear later when the web administrator sells his domain name for porn. Furthermore, this tutorial shows how to actually use sharedcopy to enhance content -another way that a web 2.0 tool delivers content. With Sharedcopy, you can add direct instruction for clarification, questions to show understanding, or even model annotation to show students how to learn from raw content.
This particular guide isn’t exactly centered on online teaching and learning, but it does show virtual educators a way to keep up with what’s on the cutting edge of a field that’s on the cutting edge… RSS feeds. Using Google to keep up with geeky news is a great way to keep up, and I hope you enjoy the tutorial below on how to go about getting it done! Remember to enlarge the tutorial to full screen so you’re sure to see how everything works.
A student’s lasting impression of an online class is his or her first impression of the instruction. We can make that instruction look better by being careful to add nice aesthetic touches to the outside of units and folders. A little web 2.0 never hurts, and we can easily produce some really nice unit intros using the method in the tutorial below. Remember to maximize the view by looking for the little icon in the bottom right that looks like a target, and enjoy the lesson. It will show you:
1. how to Gather images from google
2. how to Create a neat animoto presentation
3. how to Embed the finished animoto presentation into a folder or item in Blackboard
4. how to Create a chart around the presentation so that a textual intro can be added beside the presentation
5. Some neat troubleshooting tips like ctrl+f in a text field, resizing embedded content, etc.
We have taken a look at unit aesthetics and how to add an Animoto video, and now we’re going to do something a little easier -add aesthetic folder labels!
In virtual courses, students open units and folders and what they see gives them their first impression of the section. It’s nice to give them something aesthetically pleasing, and in this segment I’m going to continue the tutorials on aesthetic unit and folder labels with a way to fix common errors. You will see how to fix spacing errors between folders.
Mike Shumake was honored by the Southern Regional Education Board and NCVPS (NC Virtual Public School) as NC's Virtual Teacher of the Year this year. He has designed and taught cutting-edge online class content, and he has been published for his work developing a course featuring an innovative hybrid of face-to-face and online learning. Students in his classroom learn the curriculum through cutting edge technology and hands-on projects. He has acquired over $3,000 in gifts and donations for technology his classroom, and he has acquired over $100,000 in computer donations for students across NC as the Kramden Institute's Director of Education. He has a current NC Administrator’s License and has tenure in North Carolina. He has presented on virtual education for the NCDLA (NC Distance Learning Association), NCTIES (NC Technology in Education), and for NCVPS training events, both face-to-face and virtual. He has led teams of teachers in virtual course development, and he currently serves as North Carolina Virtual School's lead coordinator in the NC and Puerto Rico collaborative education project.
