STJLabs

Inserting YouTube videos into PowerPoint presentations

Josh — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:15:16 +0000

I just created a document outlining how you can insert YouTube videos into PowerPoint presentations:

Printing to PDF

Josh — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:17:55 +0000

Printing out documents to send to other people can be a pain. Not only that the person receiving the document has to deal with lots of hard copy. Don’t get me wrong, I do think there is a time and a place for hard copy. It would just be nice to minimize those times and places.

One great way to print less to hard copy is to print to PDF. This is functionally equivalent to saving whatever you’re looking at as a PDF file.

One a Mac this is a built in function. Click on “PDF” in the lower left of the print menu. (See below)

On a PC there are some programs that have a “Save as PDF” function built in. To make it so you can save as PDF from any Windows program you’ll need to install a PDF printer driver. Once the driver is installed a PDF printer will show up in your printer list. To save as PDF all you need to do is print the file like you normally would and select the PDF printer instead of your paper printer. You’ll then be presented with a Save As option. Save the file. Viola. You’re done.

There are two PDF drivers (for PCs) that I recommend: CutePDF Writer and PDF Creator. They are both small, free, and easy to use. PDF creator is a little more lightweight and CutePDF Writer has a slightly more refined user interface. You can’t go wrong with either.

This is how I have been submitting my grade books and other reports for the past year and I have been loving it.

Note: This software is not currently installed on school computers. Hopefully it will be installed soon.

Google Docs now has a built in equation editor!

Josh — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:50:20 +0000

I’ve been waiting for this feature for two years! Yay!

As a bonus the equation editor is graphical AND it shows the LaTeX code, which can be directly edited!

Electronic Student Portfolios

Delsie — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:24:51 +0000

At the Language Dept. we are trying to start using electronic student portfolios. At their teacher’s request, the student will choose a sample of their best work from their language class (this can be extended to other classes as well) in any given year. The portfolio should be available for other teachers to see in future years. We decided that it would be a good idea for this to be be stored as a Google Document since it avoids storing CDs, thumb drives, etc. Each teacher could be made a viewer by the student (who will own the document) as needed.

The document would be titled:

Last Name, First Name, year of graduation, STJ Academy

and it will be in stjlabs.

I’m thinking that a Presentation would be more versatile than a Document since we can then upload pictures as well as written documents.

If you are doing electronic portfolios already, or if you have any thoughts on this, please let me know. Thanks. My stjlabs address is: delsie@stjlabs.com.

Welcome Back

Josh — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:58:43 +0000

I will be running training refresher classes during the first two months of school. If you’d like to attend one of the classes, email me at jseamon@stjacademy.org.

- Josh

Josh — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:07:43 +0000

This email just went out to the faculty:

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If you want to give a student their account info…

1) Login to http://docs.stjlabs.com

2) Click on “student-portal-stjlabs-google-account-v3″

3) Find their name on the list and verify that they have handed in their form. (There will be a “Y” in the “Form?” column if they have handed in their form.)

4) If they have not handed in their form, give them another copy to sign. (The form is attached to this email. There are also copies in the mail room.) If they say they have turned in their form but the list doesn’t say so, their form probably hasn’t been checked off yet or their hand writing was impossible to decipher. If either is the case, send them to me in SV21.

5) If the sheet says they have turned in their form, give them their username, initial password and the link: http://tinyurl.com/stjastudentaccountinfo. That links contains all the information they need to know in order to login to the portal and the STJLabs Google Documents system. I have attached a template for a small paper handout you can give them.

Let me know if you have any questions,

- Josh

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Technology Letter (PDF)

January In Service: Wrap Up

Josh — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:23:07 +0000

All of the January In Service materials are posted over on the January ‘09 In Service page of STJLabs.com. On that page you will find my presentation along with all of the handouts, videos, log in locations, and supplementary materials in digital form.

If you attended the January In Service it would be appreciated if you took a few minutes to fill out the January In Service evaluation survey.

1,000 copies of the technology letter to parents are sitting on the stack of copy paper in the mail room. Please pick up a copy for each of your advisees and hand one out to each of them during chapel on Tuesday, 1/13. Tell them they only need to return the signed form which is a single page (the 2nd page). They should hold on to the other three pages. Also remind them to print their name clearly. Your advisees should return the forms to you to be placed in the collection box which is located at the back of the mail room. By Friday of next week I will distribute the first round of log in credential handouts to each of the students that have returned their signed form.

As you know classes and class rosters are not up to date on the school website. My goal is to make the first of many updates to those lists by the end of this week. Remember that your current rosters and class assignments can be found on AP Web.

Remember that I will be running supplementary training sessions every Wednesday from 3:30 to 4:30 in Severance 21. I will be able to provide a laptop to anyone that needs one.

One last note: I just received word from our web host that our calendar system is being upgraded to their new version tomorrow. Your existing events will not be changed. The calendar interface will change substantially. To learn about the new calendar system please take a look at this page.

January In Service: Task Reminder

Josh — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:15:41 +0000

This email was sent to the STJA faculty on Friday, 1/2:

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Hello everyone,

I hope everyone is having a fantastic winter break!

If you haven’t signed up for the January in service training sessions, please email me as soon as possible so I can create your accounts and make your room assignment. Instructor and room assignments are posted right here: http://tinyurl.com/inservicerooms

Please make sure you complete the following tasks before the in service on Monday, January 12th:

1) Make sure you can login to the faculty/staff web portal: http://stjacademy.org/userlogin.cfm
2) Make sure you can login to STJLabs Google Documents: http://docs.stjlabs.com
3) Collect course syllabi, links, files, calendars, and anything else you’d like to post on your class web pages and put them on a USB thumb drive or CD.

Completing these three tasks will go a long way towards helping make the January in service a success.

If you have any questions please email me.

- Josh

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Collaboration with Google Docs

Josh — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:36:06 +0000

The last two tasks

Josh — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:27:19 +0000

This email went out to all STJA faculty earlier this evening:

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Hello everyone,

Registration for the upcoming January In Service is now closed. If you still need to register, please email me and I will add you to a group.

Instructor and room assignments are now posted right here:
http://tinyurl.com/inservicerooms

If you do not see your name on that list, please email me.

I know everyone is unbelievably busy, but it would be wonderfully helpful if you could do two tasks by the end of this week:

1) Start thinking about what materials you would like to post to your class websites. (You will have a separate web page for each of your classes.) This can include documents, links, discussion boards, and other files. At a minimum you will need to bring your syllabi in digital form, preferably in .doc or .pdf format. On the day of the in service you will need to bring (on a thumb drive or a cd) the materials you would like to post on your class pages.

2) Make sure you can login to:
http://docs.stjlabs.com
If you’ve already been using the system, you’re all set.
If you have never logged into the system, your username is firstname.lastname and your password is in the email I sent out. You will be forced to change your password the first time you login to the system. If you run into any login issues, please email me. Feel free to play around with the system once you’ve logged in.

In order to be fully prepared for the January in service training, you need to:
1) …be able to login to the school portal located at
http://stjacademy.org
2) …be able to login to STJLabs Google Docs at http://docs.stjlabs.com
3) …bring with you materials to post on your class web pages.

Once you’ve completed the first two tasks and begun thinking about the third, please complete this form:
http://tinyurl.com/inservicetasks

The time you put in completing these tasks is GREATLY appreciated.

Good luck with your week!

- Josh

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