This was a fascinating week (or 4 weeks) because so much of what we worked on in CEDu581 tied in with what we have just done at Falls North Junior High.
First, researching Windows 7 made me wonder about our school's move from Office 2003 to Office 2007 next fall. I had several questions. I wondered if Office 2007 is compatible with Windows XP. The MS website answered that affirmatively. For some reason, I thought that Vista was necessary for Office 2007. This then made me wonder what our district is doing with our operating system. That was promptly answered by our tech people who said that we will stay with XP next year because our application launcher, Zenworks, supports XP. If Zenworks gets updated the following year, then we will move to Windows 7, skipping Vista entirely. My research on Windows 7, however, allowed me to understand that 7 is really just an upgraded version of Vista. Thanks to the Components and Linux projects, I now have a much better understanding of operating systems versus application software programs.
The second area that I learned a great deal about over these past few weeks is presentation software. My students used MS Photo Story, with fantastic results, as a method to present their business plans. Our district just installed Photo Story in our labs at North and I used this program instead of Voice Thread from last year. Our tech people wanted me to "play" with this program and report back to them. My students loved it because it was so easy to use and I loved it because my students were so engaged in creating their presentations! What an effective method for summative assessment when students cover all aspects of our business units in their Photo Story. My review of the MS Photo Story website was intriquing because the program is a free download and is marketed as "make show-and-tell cool again." As a business education teacher, I love this type of bandwagon marketing.
First, researching Windows 7 made me wonder about our school's move from Office 2003 to Office 2007 next fall. I had several questions. I wondered if Office 2007 is compatible with Windows XP. The MS website answered that affirmatively. For some reason, I thought that Vista was necessary for Office 2007. This then made me wonder what our district is doing with our operating system. That was promptly answered by our tech people who said that we will stay with XP next year because our application launcher, Zenworks, supports XP. If Zenworks gets updated the following year, then we will move to Windows 7, skipping Vista entirely. My research on Windows 7, however, allowed me to understand that 7 is really just an upgraded version of Vista. Thanks to the Components and Linux projects, I now have a much better understanding of operating systems versus application software programs.
The second area that I learned a great deal about over these past few weeks is presentation software. My students used MS Photo Story, with fantastic results, as a method to present their business plans. Our district just installed Photo Story in our labs at North and I used this program instead of Voice Thread from last year. Our tech people wanted me to "play" with this program and report back to them. My students loved it because it was so easy to use and I loved it because my students were so engaged in creating their presentations! What an effective method for summative assessment when students cover all aspects of our business units in their Photo Story. My review of the MS Photo Story website was intriquing because the program is a free download and is marketed as "make show-and-tell cool again." As a business education teacher, I love this type of bandwagon marketing.
While working on our Components project, I thought it might be fun to try out Slide Rocket. After unsuccessfully trying to access this online program at home, I did achieve success at school. For some reason, my home computer said that every one of my email addresses already existed, preventing me from logging in. At school, no problem. I like Slide Rocket more than Voice Thread because of its superb animations and easier navigation tools. Slide Rocket also was much quicker to make a presentation with and the log-in was easier.
Finally, I enjoyed watching part 3 of Revenge of the Nerds. I find Steven Jobs fascinating, particularly with the introduction of the Mac back in 1984. I had just shown that famous one-time Super Bowl/Big Brother ad in my marketing unit and it was helpful to me to understand the computer innovation background behind the ad. Competition and how it affects companies and their CEOs never ceases to amaze me!
1 comment:
Jim, your Slide Rocket is awesome! That's interesting that your school and mine have the same rationale as to why they are staying with Windows XP. I too enjoyed the Triumph of the Nerds Part III. I wish they had an update since those mid 90's!
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