In The Magic City

Want to find a picture or document quickly?

Option #1: Quick Look

Option #2: Cover Flow

	Ever wanted to peek quickly into a document? Try Quick Look — just click on the document in the Finder and then press space bar or click the Quick Look button . A quick preview of the document will open.
For detailed instructions, see the movie below.

	Want to preview pictures without opening iPhoto? Try Cover Flow — just open a folder containing pictures in the Finder and click the Cover Flow button You’ll see an instant slide show of your photos.
For detailed instructions, see the movie below.

Option #3: Today, Yesterday, and Past Week Searches

	Can’t remember the name of a document you worked on recently? Open a window in the Finder, and then click Today, Yesterday, or Past Week at the bottom left. You’ll see a list of the documents you worked on recently.
For detailed instructions, see the movie below.

Quick Look
[Time: 54 seconds]

Cover Flow
[Time: 54 seconds]

Today, Yesterday, Past Week
[Time: 1 minute 13 seconds]

Add comment Posted in  Uncategorized April 19, 2010

Quick Maps

Have you ever wanted to zoom around a world map, making a few annotations as you go to show your students what’s important? Or would you like to have your students make the annotations to show you what they know? It’s easy to create a quick map of any location in the world and add your own touches at http://www.quikmaps.com/.

Here’s a movie that shows you how easy it is! Just click the white arrow to begin.

[Length: 3:33]

P.S. I forgot to tell you in the movie: To delete any marker or label, press and hold the ctrl key while clicking the marker. The marker will disappear instantly.

Add comment Posted in  maps February 7, 2010

ActivBoards from Promethean

During 2010-2011, we’ll replace some of our aging SMART Boards. Here are short video clips about one possible replacement — the Promethean ActivBoard, demonstrated at Pike on January 20, 2010, by Gayle Razzaboni from CBE Technologies.

Magic Ink

Effects of the 2004 Tsunami

1 minute 18 seconds

Visual Effects

Percents, Decimals, and Fractions

40 seconds

Fractions as Parts of Wholes

2 minutes 18 seconds

Using a Protractor

1 minute 17 seconds

Presentations That You Can Hear As Well As See

14 seconds

Annotations

48 seconds

Other Comments

The ActivBoard is not touch-sensitive, so (unlike the SMART Board) it does not respond to your fingers. Instead, you use a pen to write on the board. This scheme has the advantage that when you or your students touch the board accidentally, annotations you’ve made do not disappear. In addition, the pen allows you to create lines and annotations that are thinner and more precise than you can do with your fingers. The scheme has the disadvantage, of course, of requiring a pen for writing. (The board detects the pen through an internal electromagnetic mesh.)

You must be careful not to write on the board with regular dry erase markers.

Add comment Posted in  interactive whiteboards January 22, 2010