What does it take?

I recently undertook setting up our first SmartBoard users group for our faculty in the district that use SMART Technology. The event was set up to be a day and a half where the participants would be able to learn, create and share with other faculty from around the district. The goal was not only to learn but was to begin establishing relationships with other faculty around the county that they could collaborate with.

So the question I asked myself was... what does it take to do this? At first I really did not know how to start but I knew that I needed a plan which included a location, agenda and equipment. I was fortunate enough to be able to have a host location that was not only able to provide the space but the equipment as well. Developing the agenda was the next step which took on a life of its own. I know that I went through about 4 different revisions of the agenda before settling on a completely different 5th edition. That one even became the victim of a mid morning redo. I then had to figure out all the incidentals and accidentals that could happen and make arrangements for them as well as to have a back up plan for the back up plan. But the biggest thing was the people that were there to help me out. Not just my co-workers but the participants that went above and beyond to help out others when questions were asked. As I walked around I saw teachers talking and collaborating. There were small groups working together to create Notebook files. In other areas I saw less confident users being helped by their peers who have been using the products longer.

Well now that it is over I can ask myself the same question in a slightly different way. What did it take? I can answer that a lot easier now, the participants. Without them the SBUG would not have been as successful as it was. The post surveys have been very positive and informative for me to be able to use to develop the next SBUG meeting.

Thank you to all the members involved who helped to make this event happen.

Getting Ready for College

Are you getting ready for college, or are you still deciding? Trying to figure out where to go and what it will be like can be a daunting task.

Would it be a better thing if you could get a sample of what life is like prior to actually showing up on move in day? I know some of you are saying "..but I went to orientation." What about those who were not able to go to orientation or have just now decided on which school to attend.

Do not worry you can now go to YouTube EDU to check out what campus life is like. The site contains a lot of free video clips from colleges and university's that have been pulled from their regular YouTube channel. You can easily search for your college by using the Directory or you can check out the Most Viewed or Most Subscribed tabs. They have more than just interviews with students there are also information about classes as well as recently added materials like commencement speeches and clips from Oprah Winfrey.

image provided by YouTube.com

HiFi, SciFi, WiFi now MiFi

In looking around on the web lately and trying to find something that will allow me more free range use of the Internet on the go without being strapped in somewhere or limited to certain areas I came across a small yet unassuming product that could reshape WiFi use across the world.

The company... Novatel Wireless... the product MiFi 2200

What is it, well if you have not heard or have been under a rock for the past few months. This is the first "intelligent mobile hotspot" in the world. Yes mobile, that is what I said. This small yet unassuming item about the size of a credit card and as thick as a couple sticks of gum will allow you to connect to the Internet from anywhere. Anywhere you have a signal that is... have to put in that disclaimer, so if you are out in the middle of he ocean or at the top of a mountain you still may not have a signal.

Here are some of the specs:
It is enabled for CDMA, 802,11 b/g and GPS.
Runs on Windows (XP and Vista), Mac (10.3.9 +) and Linux
Can run up to 5 wireless devices at one time.
Rechargeable Lithium battery
Has a range of about 30 feet
Check out the data sheet for more information.

It looks as if this is starting to hit the Cell phone stores and has been featured in Gizmodo as a product for Verizon, PCMag, Slashgear as a product for Sprint and many other reviews which have been written about the functionality of this product.

The price point for the MiFi will differentiate between the carriers but with a base price for the product between $99-$149 based on comparisons with a little give and take thrown in for good measure.

Check it out see what you think,
me I am talking with my cell phone provider right now to figure out if it is worth adding it to my plan.

image provided by Novatel Wireless
video provided by CNBC/YouTube

Web Camera with Lights?

The next latest and greatest from the minds of manufacturers seems to be the Self Illuminating Web Camera. Yes I said self illuminating.


Gone are the days of worrying about back lighting or having to pay for a more expensive webcam that will auto adjust for light.

New out is a USB webcam that has six built in LED lights, which will allow use of the webcam in low-light situations. Not only that there is dimmer switch that allows you to adjust the light intensity and the push of a button.

Now for some specs. The camera is 2MP and will auto focus. There is no base, the camera is attached to a pliable arm that can bend in any direction. Of course it's connection is USB 2.0. The camera will capture video at 640x480 up to 1600x1200, now the key there is the fps the higher the resolution the lower the fps rate. It has a built in microphone as well so you do not have to purchase anything extra. The device runs for not only Windows XP/Vista users, it will also run on Mac OS 10.4+. Oh and the final tidbit of info, the price. The webcam has a price point of around 89.95

Now for some other possibilities, after reading a post on Twitter by Kathy Schrock I got to thinking and what she had to say was pretty ingenious. Now let me first premise this as my own personal thoughts and are not meant to disrupt the natural order of things for purchasing options for any company or ed facility. Kathy made a good point that this could be used as a low cost alternative for a document camera. Right now most document cameras run in the $400-$500 range with some higher and some lower.

With the light on the webcam, the ability to manipulate the arm in any direction, and the auto-focusing capability it could really lend itself to people who want that functionality of a document camera but cannot afford the outlay cost.

image from coolest-gadgets.com

Apple's latest iPhone 3G-s

Well the highly anticipated launch date, or rather sell date, is almost upon us and the buzz has not stopped over Apple's iPhone 3G s.

Well lets take a look at some of the features of the phone that I can appreciate. I am not going to bore you with all the details, you can read about the rest of them by going to the iPhone 3G s link.


The best upgrade that there were able to put into the new phone is that it is much faster than the last generation phone. Touted as being 2x faster with opening applications, rendering web pages, reading attachments and video for gaming.

Now I like the new camera feature with 3MP, auto-focus and the ability touch zoom in and out and tap to focus on items in the photo. The video capabilities, you could almost say astound over other phones on the market. You can shoot your video in both portrait and landscape(widescreen), you can edit on the fly and post it to iTunes or Youtube with a tap of the screen. Now being the techie that I am, I like the Voice control feature. Having the ability to just say who you want to call as well as to choose what song you want to listen to is great. Oh and don't forget there are language packs available so that you can speak in your native language, from Chinese to Norwegian to Spanish.

Now there are other updates to the iPhone over and above it predecessor that I am sure will make you happy. Me I sat around and watched a family member go gaga over the original and payed a great deal of money for it when it came out. He loves that phone and it does everything he wants it to. The new one I am looking at because of the new features that I like. Price point wise $199 or $299 depending if you want the 16 or 32GB storage. Me I am one to stick with the lesser of two evils but I might have to dip into the piggy bank and pull out enough for the 32GB iPhone. For all of you out there happy dialing, movie making and picture taking.

Web 2.0 collaboration from start to finish

In my effort to find more free web 2.0 tools out there to help make your life easier I came across a pretty good site that provides you with a lot of tools that you can use.


Creaza is a ..."an integrated, web-based toolbox for creative work, both at school and in your free time..." The site provides four utilities that help you to create podcasts and vodcasts, research and project based learning, audio files, movies and many more applications that you can easily integrate into your everyday instruction and apply to your curriculum.


The products are:

Mindomo will help you to organize your ideas and thoughts into clear and concise points so through this online mind mapping software.

Cartoonist is a piece of software that allows you to obviously create cartoons, comic strips or funny images. Oh the possibilities for all curriculum areas from Health Education to English.

Movie Editor is a quick and easy movie creator software. There are plenty of canned images, videos, sounds and songs built in or you can upload your own content and create using your imagination.




Audio Editor is a quick audio program that allows you to take existing music, sounds and voice to combine into your own content. Again there are some canned sounds within the software or you can upload your own stuff.



Think of all the possibilities for school curriculum from Elementary science where students are discussing, through a podcast in the audio editor, plant life and what they are seeing in their terrariums, to High school English where they are creating political cartoons or recreating through claymation a movie on the Battle of Bull run in a Social Studies class.

Now the site offers you both a free and a pay account. With the free account you have access to the products and a sharing area as well as the ability to download your completed projects. Now there is a downside to the site, yes and I have said it before, you have to create a username and password to access the site. Again I suggest using something that you will be able to easily keep up with.

If I can leave you with anything I will leave you with this quick phrase, "go forth and play."

images provided by www.creaza.com

Problems Converting Video?

Are you still having problems finding a program that will allow you to convert videos into multiple formats other than your original format?

Try Any Video Converter, a program that allows you to convert video into multiple formats. A freeware program that offers you the ease of use of a three step process to convert your video files into new formats.

Now you do have to download the program and install it onto your computer. It does not take much time at all. It is a fairly small download and a short install that puts Any Video Converter onto your computer.

It is very easy to get started, just open the program. Select from the Profile dropdown menu the output video format. ex: .flv, .wmv, .mpg, .avi and others. After you choose the output format then click on the Add Video button and browse to the location on the computer where the video is. After you select the video click the Convert button and the process begins. If the programs asks you to upgrade to the pro version just click No Thanks. The new file is placed in the Any Video Converter located in your My Documents folder.

And that is it, that quick and your are off to the next thing. You also have the ability to watch the video in the program to see if there are any issues after the conversion.

One last thing is that you can convert files from YouTube, Google Video, MetaCafe and NicoVideo. They do not have a link yet that would allow you to download from TeacherTube but it should be coming soon. Just click on the You Tube button.

Give it a try and see if this program relieves a little bit of stress that you have built up over time with trying to find programs and free trials to convert your video files.

images provided by Any Video Converter