Janet

Roving Reporter Hits eBooking Class

It was a beautiful,sunny Saturday morning in late February. My partner and I had been up since before dawn preparing for the 15th Annual GAIN Dog Show. I had just finished setting up the registration table when I looked at my watch and OHMYGOSH! it’s time to head for SJS and computer class again. Vroooommm!

I knew this was going to be a special class because we were instructed to assemble in rooms 19 and 20 with our desktop iMacs. The list of topics isn’t long, but it is meaty:

1. Sharing time (thankfully not show and tell)

2. eBooks

3. Documents to Go

List looks short huh? Well, I think I could make use of Inspiration to weave all of the various parts together. Lots of parts… Oh, and what sits on a hill, howls at the moon and is made of cement? I’ll tell you at the bottom:)

Keystone effect: Haven’t heard this one since I took Audio-Visual class back in the 60’s. The newer multi-media projectors have an adjustment button to take care of the trapazoid shape or keystone effect that happens when the projector is not sittting level or at the correct angle towards the screen. The adjustment is called the Keystone button.

Bluetooth USb Adapter: I couldn’t wait to find out how to use it. Mac mini has it built in. It looks very like a flash drive. It becomes an antenna that we can us when we create eBooks. Insert it into a port. Look for the antenna icon on your tool bar. Click on it and find stjohnsedu.gu. If you can’t find it look in airport preferences.

Portable Network Graphics: png Images downloaded from the web for use in eBook presentations must be in the png format. Remember that!

breadcrumbs: The trail of little arrows that shows where your web site has come from. If you get onto a site that is set up for PC’s ,God forbid, you can follow the breadcrumbs back a link or so and probably find an option for a Mac set-up.

palmreader=ereader: Just a new name for a new version. Palmseems to be good at this “new name” stuff. Who would ever think it meant reading palms as done in carnival sideshows?

ebook studio works best with “plain text files”. It can open Appleworks and several other commonly used text programs.

globalclassroom.org/2005/ebooks/: A wonderful place to look at some student made eBooks plus a lot of other very neat things. Shows where to find eBooks. If you click on making ebooks you can see a list of reasons to make eBooks.

Three good reasons to make eBooks:

• your students can publish their writing and showcase it by uploading it on a blog
• your want all of your students to have the same material
• you can download free eBooks for your students

What we need to create an eBook:

• Palm handheld
• desktop computer
• Palm desktop software, this where you hotsync, but we used Bluetooth
• eReader
• ereader guide (not essential)
• eBook Studio (downloadable)
• strohhouse.com/ebooks for a demo, click on Mac

Warning: When preparing an eBook text you need to put in all of your titles, chapter headings, photos, etc. before you decide on the page breaks.

• copy the text with edit select all, and edit copy
• choose your eBook Studio off the dock
• paste it to your eBook Studio text editor which appears on left of screen
• highlight, bold and increase size of title, then center
• be sure to put “this eBook was created by…” crediting the web site where you found the materials. Make it smaller text and do not use bold.
• insert photos at this point
• click twice on load_img, if preview doesn’t show, go to view, click on “show view options”, click on “this window only”, click on “show icon preview”,
• go back to book, try dragging pic., it well show an icon if the picture is large, but is the pic.is the right demensions it will show right away.
• you can align pic. just like text
• now do page breaks
• to do page breaks, click on page break at the top, don’t let any single lines hang alone

Creating an anchor within text: this section is not finished!

• click on your pic. or text, highlight it, then choose “book” “create anchor”
• go back to top of page

Time to save:

• create a title
• state “published by”
• option g = makes a copyright symbol; ©, or option r = registered; ®

Make book:

• ready to make it into Palm format
• file “make book”
• press “save”
• it will be in desk top or documents

Transfer into handheld:

• insert Bluetooth antenna, warning; microwave ovens and 2.4 gig phones will interfer
• icon for Bluetooth shows up on upper bar
• activate Bluetooth by clicking on your computer at left side
• in list on right choose applications,open that
• go to bottom of window and click on utilities, go to icon view
• choose view arrange by name, click twice on Bluetooth file exchange
• you will see Cancel and Send
• switch on handheld, be sure you are paired with your computer
• Always leave “discoverable” on yes
• look for Bluetooth symbol to be sure it is on
• be sure you are in Bluetooth file exchange program, drag it to sidebar for shortcut
• click on your folder
• navigate windows to find your pdb. eBook
• drag it over to Bluetooth file exchange.
• you will get “Select Bluetooth device”
• make sure it says “pda” on the device type
• device category should be “discovered devices”
• click “search”
• you will see everyone’s handheld in the classroom
• if your handheld is not showing, that means it is off
• choose your name and send
• use stylus to accept
• open eReader on handheld to check your eBook

If our computers had “infrared out” we would not have to use Bluetooth to transfer files from the desktop to the handheld.

Topic 3; Documents to Go

Files that on on SD cards cannot be printed. You must move it to the handheld.

MS word takes up more space but it is possible to sync it with your desktop. If you do have a document in another text type you can switch it to MS word later.

Don’t forget to save!

Needed:

• Printboy program which costs $99.99
• Actisys jr. interface connection to printer

Now, go forth and make an eBook! Use DtG! Do it all! Now! Before you forget it!

Oh, it’s a coyote! I just threw in the cement to make it hard! Just like this class.

It has been an ordinary week in 3rd grade math class, but today’s lesson turned out to be extraordinary. Handhelds made it happen.

We have been working our way through some basic geometry lessons: line, line segment, end point, ray, angle, right angle, radius, diameter, center, etc. Each lesson opened with listing the vocabulary words for that day in our Math Journal. Then we used our textbooks to familiarize ourselves with the definitions and the visual of each term; talking through each one by identifying a similar example in the world around us and also drawing them in the air or on the desk with our fingers.

Next we wrote the definitions into the journals and did the usual workbook pages for each lesson. Pretty humdrum,huh? Well, the fun was about to begin.

Now, enter the handhelds. With the advice of a trusted colleague, I invited the children to try creating and labeling the new math vocabulary on Novianimator. Within a couple minutes some of them had the first figure drawn and were trying to label it. Labeling did not go very well when writing on screen, so soon there was some noise about it being hard. (They assured me that they were not whining!) It wasn’t long before they were asking if there was an easier way. I suggested that we look for a text option, and away they went.

In less than one class period, we had done textbook and journal stuff, and several of the children were finished with the nine slides and ready to run them in a slide show. Of course, the slide show flipped like a runaway rabbit, so they had to figure out how to slow it down.

Cries of elation were heard; “I’m done”, but the ever-ready teacher said, “How about a title?” or “I wonder if you could use color to make it more interesting?”

In truth, they were more ready to accomplish this project than I, but with a little bit of encouragement, they searched out solutions to their own problems and there was no lack of help when someone was stuck. Bits of advice were flying about the room like Bluetooth transmissions.

This lesson was double-edged; it was a terrific experience for the students. I don’t think they will have any trouble remembering these terms. For me, it cemented the belief that technology belongs in the classroom,not just as an occasional treat,but as a constant resource.

Handhelds are clearly the answer to the prayers of a lefty with a broken wrist!